Computer-implemented method for facilitating creation of an advanced digital communications network, and terminal, system and computer-readable medium for the same

ABSTRACT

A method for facilitating the creation of a digital communications network by collaborative interaction among users at computer interfaces, the method comprising, at a terminal in a digital communications network: receiving question data; collecting answer data, collaboration data, and selection data relating to the terminal; transmitting the collected answer data to at least one first remote terminal; receiving answer data from the at least one first remote terminal responsive to identical question data as the received question data; receiving collaborative data from the first remote terminal; one or more of storing and displaying the question data and responsive answer data; and displaying answer data from the at least one first remote terminal in accordance with whether the at least one first remote terminal is assigned to a same predetermined first-tier group as the terminal in an answer data driven device hierarchy. A terminal, system and computer-readable medium are also disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 61/691,793, filed Aug. 21, 2012, under 35 U.S.C.§119(e), and from United Kingdom patent application Ser. No. 1215377.1,filed Aug. 29, 2012, under 35 U.S.C. §119(a), the entire contents ofboth of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method forfacilitating creation of an advanced digital communications network, anda terminal, a system and a computer-readable medium for the same.

BACKGROUND

Modern digital communication networks allow the transmission and receiptof information even between far flung users. For example, althougheducational content has traditionally been delivered by using acombination of lecture, self-study, and one or more of physicalclassroom and face-to-face educator interaction and testing, due atleast in part to the proliferation of alternative content deliverysystems provided by digital technologies recent efforts in education andnon-educational decision making are being tried. Some of these newmethods involve students or users learning selected background materialsindependently and replacing classroom lectures with aneducator-facilitated student-to-student “interactive” environment orvideo-conferencing. Yet, none provide advancements in the quality ofwhat is being communicated.

To be sure, digital media have fostered many new innovations, one ofwhich is distance learning, or so called e-learning, and another ofwhich is video-conferencing.

While these methods provide several ways of delivering and exchangingcontent to students or users, they are less successful, however, atproviding even the kind of interactive group learning allowable inphysical, face-to-face classroom-based teaching or face-to-faceconferencing.

While digital capabilities promise an efferent way of educating studentsor making decisions, in their current forms, and with current attempts,resultant useable student knowledge and/or sound decisions will likelycontinue to wane. In the quest to use them, deep and functionableunderstanding of the subject matter is being replaced by memorization ofdisjointed data sets and aggravating misunderstandings (often bye-mail). There is also a failure to instil or facilitate social andhuman-to-human interaction skills, creating a workforce with factualknowledge but little ability to innovate and/or problem solve.

It would be desirable to provide a more effective method of distancelearning or decision making, which enhances and increases knowledge.

SUMMARY

As used herein, “question data” means data representing the substantivecontent of one or more questions having a user-intended generalsubstantive meaning, irrespective of formatting or other presentationdifference(s), security or communication protocol or other technicalcode or hardware-based content difference(s), computer or human languagedifference(s), dialect difference(s), exact wording difference(s),particular word choice difference(s), grammatical difference(s) oridiomatic difference(s).

As used herein “identical question data” means question data that areidentical only to an extent equal to or greater than what is requiredsubstantively to communicate the question data to a user.

As used herein, “answer data” means any electronically communicatedinformation that represents one or more of textually-input,orally-input, and video-input substantive content of one or more userresponses to at least one question, the user response(s) having auser-intended general substantive meaning, irrespective of formatting orother presentation difference(s), security or communication protocol orother technical code or hardware-based content difference(s), computeror human language difference(s), dialect difference(s), exact wordingdifference(s), particular word choice difference(s), grammaticaldifference(s) or idiomatic difference(s).

As used herein “identical answer data” means answer data that areidentical only to an extent equal to or greater than what is requiredsubstantively to communicate the answer data to a user.

As used herein, “collaboration data” means any electronicallycommunicated information that represents one or more of textually-input,orally-input, and video-input substantive content of one or more usercomment regarding, question about, suggestion for, or revision of anyuser's answer data, the one or more user comment regarding, questionabout, suggestion for, or revision of any user's answer data having auser-intended general substantive meaning, irrespective of formatting orother presentation difference(s), security or communication protocol orother technical code or hardware-based content difference(s), computeror human language difference(s), dialect difference(s), exact wordingdifference(s), particular word choice difference(s), grammaticaldifference(s) or idiomatic difference(s).

As used herein “identical collaboration data” means collaboration datathat are identical only to an extent equal to or greater than what isrequired substantively to communicate the collaboration data to a user.

As used herein, “selection data” means any electronically communicatedinformation that represents one or more of textually-input,orally-input, and video-input substantive content of answer data (orrevised answer data) preference or answer data (or revised answer data)ranking, answer data (or revised answer data) preference or answer data(or revised answer data) ranking having a user-intended generalsubstantive meaning, irrespective of formatting or other presentationdifference(s), security or communication protocol or other technicalcode or hardware-based content difference(s), computer or human languagedifference(s), dialect difference(s), exact wording difference(s),particular word choice difference(s), grammatical difference(s) oridiomatic difference(s).

As used herein “identical selection data” means selection data that areidentical only to an extent equal to or greater than what is requiredsubstantively to communicate the selection data to a user.

As used herein “responsive data” means any digitally communicatedinformation that represents one or more of textually-input,orally-input, and video-input user response(s) to at least one questionbroadcast to the user's device caused and initiated by transmission ofat least one set of question data input into an administrator device.

According to a first aspect of the disclosure, there is provided amethod for facilitating collaboration in a communications network, themethod comprising, at a terminal in the communications network:

receiving question data;

collecting answer data, collaboration data, and selection data relatingto the terminal; transmitting the collected answer data to at least onefirst remote terminal; receiving answer data from the at least one firstremote terminal responsive to identical question data as the receivedquestion data;

receiving collaborative data from the at least one first remoteterminal;

one or more of storing and displaying the question data and responsiveanswer data;

displaying answer data from the at least one first remote terminal inaccordance with whether the at least one first remote terminal isassigned to a same predetermined first-tier group as the terminal in aone or more of an answer data-driven and collaboration data-driventerminal hierarchy;

receiving collaborative answer data from a second remote terminalresponsive to identical question data as the received question data;

displaying the collaborative answer data from the second remote terminalin accordance with whether the second remote terminal is assigned to asame predetermined second-tier group as the terminal in the answerdriven device hierarchy, collaborative answer data having beentransmitted for presentation to the second remote terminal in dependenceupon the collected collaboration data and collaboration data from the atleast one first remote terminal, both in dependence on the answer datacollected by the software component in the terminal and on the answerdata received from the first remote terminal;

receiving selection answer data from a third remote terminal responsiveto identical question data as the received question data; and

displaying answer data from the third remote terminal in accordance withwhether the third remote terminal is assigned to a same predeterminedthird-tier group as the terminal in the answer driven device hierarchy,selection answer data having been transmitted for presentation to thethird remote terminal in dependence upon the collected selection dataand selection data from the second remote terminal.

Embodiments comprise incrementally increasing, in relation to eachsubsequent tier, a number of digitally-represented characters that maybe input as data for collection by the terminal.

In embodiments, the question data is displayed on each of three separateoccasions and at each subsequent occasion the method comprisesperforming one or more of:

increasing a range of available data input time;

decreasing data input time allowed;

increasing a number of allowed transmissions to other terminals per userof the terminal;

increasing a number of allowed transmissions to other terminals pergroup; and

-   -   increasing a number of characters available for inputting data        to be collected.

Embodiments comprise performing one or more of determining, receiving orbroadcasting only one second-tier answer for each second-tier group andonly one third-tier answer data for each third-tier group.

Embodiments comprise allowing one or more entities into thecommunications network to designate a user associated with a terminalwithin a given group as anonymous.

Embodiments comprise transmitting answer data for presentation at allterminals participating in the collaboration at a time pre-defined byone or more entities in the communications network, by virtue ofbroadcast sharing among all terminals in each group.

Embodiments comprise after displaying data from other terminals at eachtier, allowing for the input of data to change collected data only onetime before transmission. In embodiments, one or more entities in thecommunications network broadcasts given test data prior to groupassignment, whereby terminals are assigned to groups based at least inpart on test results relating to the given test data.

Embodiments comprise inhibiting further user input in relation to thecollaboration after one or more deadlines dictated by one or moreentities in the communications network expires.

In embodiments, the communications network comprises a partiallycentralized digital communications exchange network comprising aplurality of terminals.

In embodiments, the communications network comprises a centralizeddigital communications exchange network comprising a plurality ofterminals.

In embodiments, the communications network comprises a decentralizeddigital communications exchange network comprising a plurality ofterminals.

In embodiments, the communications network comprises a peer-to-peernetwork.

In embodiments, one or more entities in the communications networkdetermines one or more amounts of time available for each tier of thecollaboration prior to the start of the collaboration.

Embodiments comprise discontinuing communication of data to or from agiven terminal in a given group in response to a request being made thatthe given terminal be removed from the given group.

In embodiments, one or more entities in the communications networkallows a given terminal in the communications network to be reassignedto a different group at a given tier without informing other groups orother terminals in the group from which the given terminal is beingassigned that a reassignment was made in accordance with request datafrom the given terminal.

In embodiments, selection answer data have been transmitted forpresentation to the third remote terminal further in dependence uponselection data from the first remote terminal, other remote terminals inthe same predetermined first-tier group as the terminal, selection datafrom the second remote terminal, and other remote terminals in the samepredetermined second-tier group as the terminal.

In embodiments, collaboration answer data have been transmitted forpresentation to the second remote terminal further in dependence uponcollaboration data from other remote terminals in the same predeterminedfirst-tier group as the terminal.

Embodiments comprise transmitting data representative of informationselected or inputted via an input device to facilitate the making of acompetitive determination of a best second-tier collaborative answer.

Embodiments comprise tabulating or calculating which of one or moresecond-tier collaborative answers is associated with vote data the mostnumber of times to arrive at the third-tier selection answer.

In embodiments, one or more entities in the communications networkdetermines elimination of access to given data by one or more terminalsif said one or more terminals is not actively receiving and transmittingdata at specified times through one or more of not submitting an initialresponse or answer, not transmitting proposed optimized or alteredanswer data in between stages, not transmitting vote data at any stage,and not indicating login onto a scheduled chat session.

In embodiments, one or more entities in the communications networkdisbands groups and transmits or initiates execution of test dataadministration to terminals in the communications network after aprescribed number of challenges have been addressed by all third-tiergroups.

In embodiments, a sequential number of challenges posed by one or moreentities in the communications network is received by terminalsparticipating in the collaboration prior to the start of thecollaboration.

Embodiments comprise after final response data reception, allowing orprompting all terminals within a group to receive or initiate receivingof vote data to determine what single answer will represent the group asits group consensus results. Embodiments comprise providing text oraudio chat after a challenge has gone through a collaborative andcompetitive process on two occasions within the groups, and for thefirst time all groups present at least one set of consensus data fromother groups available for viewing by virtue of broadcast sharing.

Embodiments comprise transmitting answer data to at least one terminalassigned to a different predetermined first-tier group as the terminal.

In embodiments, answer data ascends the answer driven device hierarchybased on being displayed on increasingly greater numbers of terminalsfor each subsequent tier.

In embodiments, the terminal is configured to be able to broadcast dataonly from terminals assigned to the same group as the terminal before aresponse or answer determined by the group is transmitted to orpresented at a terminal in a different assigned group.

Embodiments comprise displaying or broadcasting at least one option tore-group terminals into different groups between different challenges orquestions.

According to a second aspect of the disclosure, there is provided aterminal for facilitating collaboration in a communications network, theterminal comprising:

a software component arranged to collect answer data, collaborationdata, and selection data relating to the terminal;

transceiving means arranged to receive question data, to transmit thecollected answer data to at least one first terminal remote from theterminal, and to receive answer data from the at least one first remoteterminal responsive to identical question data as the received questiondata, and to receive collaborative data from the first remote terminal;

one or more of a store arranged to store and a display means arranged todisplay the question data and responsive answer data;

display means arranged to display answer data from the at least onefirst remote terminal in accordance with whether the at least one firstremote terminal is assigned to a same predetermined first-tier group inan answer data driven device hierarchy as the terminal;

transceiving means arranged to receive collaborative answer data from asecond remote terminal responsive to identical question data as thereceived question data; and display means arranged to display thecollaborative answer data from the second remote terminal in accordancewith whether the second remote terminal is assigned to a samepredetermined second-tier group as the terminal in the answer drivendevice hierarchy, collaborative answer data having been transmitted forpresentation to the second remote terminal in dependence upon thecollected collaboration data and collaboration data from the at leastone first remote terminal, both in dependence on the answer datacollected by the software component in the terminal and on the answerdata received from the first remote terminal;

transceiving means arranged to receive selection answer data from athird remote terminal responsive to identical question data as thereceived question data; and

display means arranged to display answer data from the third remoteterminal in accordance with whether the third remote terminal isassigned to a same predetermined third-tier group as the terminal in theanswer driven device hierarchy, selection answer data having beentransmitted for presentation to the third remote terminal in dependenceupon the collected selection data and selection data from the secondremote terminal.

According to a third aspect of the disclosure, there is provided acomputer-implemented method of facilitated collaboration in acommunications network, the method comprising:

electronically transmitting responsive data from at least one deviceset, each of the at least one device sets configured to be organizedinto a predetermined group within an answer driven yet-to-be determineddigital communication device hierarchy structure and to represent one ormore individual participants, the responsive data responsive to one ormore challenges posed by one or more entities with digital access to theyet-to-be determined digital communication device hierarchy structure,the responsive data being designated as one or more of a total number ofindividual first-tier responses for each predetermined groupcommunicated in a partially centralized, centralized or decentralized,digital communications exchange network comprising a plurality ofdevices;

displaying or broadcasting one or more of the total number of individualfirst-tier responses on at least one of the plurality of devices in thecommunications exchange network in accordance with its predeterminedgroup if any; and

one or more of receiving from or transmitting to, one or more other ofthe plurality of devices in the exchange network, collaborativeindividual participant commentary data or revision data through thedigital communications exchange network to optimize the one or moreindividual first-tier responses in response to the one or morechallenges, the optimized first-tier responses being designated as oneor more of a total number of second-tier consensus answers to the one ormore challenges, the total number of the second-tier consensus answersbeing less than the total number of the individual first-tier responses.

According to a fourth aspect of the disclosure, there is provided acomputer system, comprising one or more processors to cause at least onedevice in a communications network to:

electronically transmit responsive data from at least one device set,each of the at least one device sets configured to be organized into apredetermined group within an answer driven yet-to-be determined digitalcommunication device hierarchy structure and to represent one or moreindividual participants, the responsive data responsive to one or morechallenges posed by one or more entities with digital access to theyet-to-be determined digital communication device hierarchy structure,the responsive data being designated as one or more of a total number ofindividual first-tier responses for each predetermined groupcommunicated in a partially centralized, centralized or decentralized,digital communications exchange network comprising a plurality ofdevices; display or broadcast one or more of the total number ofindividual first-tier responses on at least one of the plurality ofdevices in the communications exchange network in accordance with itspredetermined group if any; and

one or more of receive from or transmit to, one or more other of theplurality of devices in the exchange network, collaborative individualparticipant commentary data or revision data through the digitalcommunications exchange network to optimize the one or more individualfirst-tier responses in response to the one or more challenges, theoptimized first-tier responses being designated as one or more of atotal number of second-tier consensus answers to the one or morechallenges, the total number of the second-tier consensus answers beingless than the total number of the individual first-tier responses.

According to a fifth aspect of the disclosure, there is provided anon-transitory computer-readable medium containing a program, which whenexecuted by one or more computers each and/or collectively containingone or more processors, causes the one or more processors to cause atleast one device set in a communications network to:

electronically transmit responsive data from the at least one deviceset, each of the at least one device sets configured to be organizedinto a predetermined group within an answer driven yet-to-be determineddigital communication device hierarchy structure and to represent one ormore individual participants, the responsive data responsive to one ormore challenges posed by one or more entities with digital access to theyet-to-be determined digital communication device hierarchy structure,the responsive data being designated as one or more of a total number ofindividual first-tier responses for each predetermined groupcommunicated in a partially centralized, centralized or decentralized,digital communications exchange network comprising a plurality ofdevices; display or broadcast one or more of the total number ofindividual first-tier responses on at least one of the plurality ofdevices in the communications exchange network in accordance with itspredetermined group if any; and

one or more of receive from or transmit to, one or more other of theplurality of devices in the exchange network, collaborative individualparticipant commentary data or revision data through the digitalcommunications exchange network to optimize the one or more individualfirst-tier responses in response to the one or more challenges, theoptimized first-tier responses being designated as one or more of atotal number of second-tier consensus answers to the one or morechallenges, the total number of the second-tier consensus answers beingless than the total number of the individual first-tier responses.

In embodiments, at least one of the plurality of devices is configuredto electronically transmit, vote data representative of informationselected or inputted from at least one of the one or more participantsto facilitate the making of a competitive determination of the best ofthe one or more second tier consensus answers.

In embodiments, at least one of the plurality of devices is configuredto perform one or more of determining, receiving or broadcasting onlyone second-tier consensus answer for each group and only one third-tierconsensus answer for each classroom if any.In embodiments, at least oneof the plurality of devices is configured to tabulate or calculate whichof the one or more second-tier consensus answers is associated with votedata the most number of times to arrive at a third-tier classroomanswer.

In embodiments, at least one of the plurality of devices is configuredto perform one or more of storing, receiving and transmitting digitallyinput responsive data answers responsive to requests for anincrementally increasing number of digitally-represented characters thatmay be input for each subsequent tier student response, increased oneach subsequent occasion.

In embodiments, the challenge is displayed or broadcast to each studenton each of three separate occasions and at each subsequent occasion theat least one device set performs one or more of:

increasing a range of available data input time; decreasing data inputtime allowed;

increasing numbers of allowed communication broadcasts to other devicesper individual;

increasing numbers of allowed communication broadcasts to other devicesper group; and

increasing number of characters available for each response.

In embodiments, at least one of the plurality of devices is configuredto allow a device set associated with the one or more entities todesignate students within a group as anonymous.

In embodiments, at least one of the plurality of devices is configuredto broadcast a given test to at least one of the participants prior togroup placement and placing the participants in combinations to bestassure their collaboration and competition.

In embodiments, at least one of the plurality of devices is configuredto determine elimination of one or more device sets access to courseprogram data if not actively receiving and transmitting data atspecified times through one or more of not submitting an initialresponse or answer, not transmitting proposed optimized or alteredanswer data in between stages, not transmitting vote data at any stage,and not indicating login onto a scheduled chat session.

In embodiments, at least one of the plurality of devices is configuredto broadcast as testing media using live interactivity and competitionamong device sets.

In embodiments, at least one of the plurality of devices is configuredto, after a prescribed number of challenges have been addressed by allthird-tier device set groups, disband groups and transmit or initiateexecution of test data administration to individual device sets.

In embodiments, a sequential number of challenges posed by the one ormore entities is first received by all individual device sets populatingall groups in a third-tier group.In embodiments, at a time pre-definedby the one or more entities all device set input short-answer data aretransmitted for presentation at every device set after being received,by virtue of broadcast sharing among all device sets in each device setgroup.

In embodiments, after presenting other device set input short answerdata at each tier, each device set in a device set group allows forinput of data to change that device set answer one time before finalsubmission and distribution.

In embodiments, at least one of the plurality of devices is configuredto, after final response data reception, allow or prompt all device setswithin a group to receive or initiate receiving of vote data todetermine what single short-answer will represent the device set groupas its group consensus result(s).

In embodiments, device sets provide text or audio chat after a challengehas gone through a collaborative and competitive process on twooccasions within the device set groups, and for the first time alldevice set groups present at least one set of consensus data from otherdevice set groups available for viewing by virtue of broadcast sharing.

In embodiments, at least one of the plurality of devices is configuredto not accept input from a student after one or more deadlines dictatedby the one or more entities expires.

In embodiments, a device set group answer data ascends the digitalcommunication device hierarchy structure based on being displayed onconcentrically greater numbers of device sets.

Further features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparentfrom the following description of preferred embodiments of thedisclosure, given by way of example only, which is made with referenceto the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the specification andare to be read in conjunction therewith, and in which like referencenumerals are used to indicate like features in the various views:

FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of a distributed digital networkarranged in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 1B is a schematic illustration of a distributed digital networkcommunicating in accordance with participant answers from an embodimentof FIG. 1A; FIG. 1C is a schematic illustration of a distributed digitalnetwork communicating in accordance with participant answers from anembodiment of FIG. 1B;

FIG. 1D is a portion of a block diagram of a stepwise method that may beused in an embodiment;

FIG. 1E is another portion of the block diagram of FIG. 1D;

FIG. 1F is another portion of the block diagram of FIGS. 1D and 1E;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a device set architecture that may be usedin an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing steps involved in an embodimentconcerning information exchange within applications running on a deviceof FIGS. 1A-1C;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a stepwise group qualification method thatmay be used in an embodiment;

FIG. 5A is a block diagram of a stepwise method that may be used in anembodiment;

FIG. 5B is an illustration of a digitally generated visual displayarranged for use in an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a competition method that may be used in anembodiment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an answer-determined device interactionbased on a particular challenge that may be used in an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing components of, and arranged to executeon a terminal of a device set shown in FIGS. 1A-C, along with severalnetwork components that may be used in an embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of a message presentation on one ormore of the components shown in FIG. 8 in a mobile terminal embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a three-hierarchy structure of a schoolaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a method of obtaining a school consensusanswer according to the embodiment of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a table of a vote in a group in order to obtain a groupanswer according to the embodiment of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13A is a table of a vote in a classroom in order to obtain aclassroom answer according to the embodiment of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13B is a table of another type of vote in a classroom in order toobtain a classroom answer according to the embodiment of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13C is a table of a vote in a group, a result of which is used inthe table of FIG. 13B;

FIG. 14A is a table of a vote in a school in order to obtain a schoolconsensus answer; and

FIG. 14B is a table of yet another type of vote in a school in order toobtain a school consensus answer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the disclosure are concerned with the creation of anadvanced digital communication network that obtains, transmits, and/orbroadcasts education, group interaction and/or survey data, respectivelyfrom and by stationary or mobile devices and interactive features of theeducational and/or survey data. They have several aspects, including theway in which educational, group interactive and/or survey data areformatted; interactive content of educational, group interactive and/orsurvey data; embedding of educational, group interactive and/or surveydata in applications such as social media or games and the like;peer-to-peer distribution of educational, group interactive and/orsurvey data and of applications arranged to display and run sucheducational, group interactive, and/or survey data; and selection ofuser settings using educational, group interactive and/or survey data.Details of these aspects will be described in detail latter in thedescription, but first a description of the basic infrastructure neededto support the aspects will be presented.

One aspect of the disclosure is directed to a computer-implementedmethod wherein the method is an adaptation of one or more general orspecial purpose computers or other electronic devices for carrying outthe method. In at least one embodiment, such method may be performed byexecution of at least one computer software program that creates afurther technical effect of variously obtaining, transmitting andbroadcasting information in a particular way or sequence at particulartimes, above and beyond the normal functioning of such computer(s) ordevice(s).

Now referring to FIGS. 1-7, in at least one embodiment the method isexpressed as an educator commanded computer program that automaticallyorganizes and coordinates student learning and/or decision making in astepwise fashion, in a way that utilizes both competitive andcollaborative group dynamics unique to the current disclosure, tofacilitate the learning process in a controlled and restrictedinteractive digital environment. In at least one embodiment, theprogram(s) can be run on, e.g., one or more of an internet or intranetplatform comprising any one of, e.g., a centralized, partiallycentralized or decentralized (such as peer-to-peer) network, and mayaccommodate a minimum of about nine and a maximum of at least about144,000 students or users.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C, in at least one embodiment abase functional component is composed of at least one of a plurality ofdevices configured to be ordered by predetermined default settings oruser selected settings into groupings of one or more student device setgroups that can be composed of a minimum of three and maximum of atleast twelve user device sets, including 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11user device sets. Each device set may comprise only one or multiplesingle user, entity (e.g., informal group) or participant controlled,owned or used device(s). Any one or more of these may include forexample remote log-on and/or remote usage via any Web-capable device toa Web-based ASP or peer-to-peer decentralized network even though devicepossession and/or control is only temporary and/or through establishedother-user-owned or installed applications, such as by embeddedimplementation via a widely used social media application or website.

Referring to FIG. 1A, groups of device sets bi-directionally communicateat an initial stage exclusively with only one another, and optionallyone or more administrator (e.g., educator) device sets. Device sets 201,202, and 203 exclusively comprise one administrator or softwarepredetermined communication group 301. Sets 205, 207, and 209exclusively comprise a second device set group 303. Sets 211, 213, and215 exclusively comprise a third device set group 305. Any number ofdevice sets per groups may be implemented, but in at least oneembodiment there are preferably at least three. At certain default oradministrator-selected times going forward device sets may continue tocommunicate with one another either continuously or as permitted byspecially timed (and optionally formatted) information input requestperiods. At this initial stage and over several stages, intra-device setcommunications occur, for example, through networks W1, W2, W3, W4, W4,W5, W6, W7, W8, W9, W10, W11, W12, W13, W14, and W15, each of which maybe different or the same as one another.

Referring to FIG. 1B, collective device group data determined dependingon data received from direct user-to-device input into one or more ofeach device set in a device set group are transmitted to each of theother closed communication device set groups in device set “classroom”(a/k/a second tier group) 401 for broadcast at all device sets in theother device set groups within device set classroom 401. Device setgroup decisions may be determined within the relevant device set groupor any other group device set or terminal, or alternately for example byany one or more other terminals in the plurality of devices of thesystem, before being distributed to and broadcast at other device setgroups or classrooms. Each device set in classroom 401 is arranged thento receive direct user-to-device input data responsive to each otherdevice set group's transmitted, received, and broadcast data in itsdevice set classroom 401.Referring to FIG. 1C, collective deviceclassroom data determined depending on data received from directuser-to-device input into one or more of each device set or group in adevice set classroom are transmitted to each of the other closedcommunication device set classrooms in device set “school” (a/k/a thirdtier group) 451 for broadcast at all device sets in the other device setclassrooms within device set school 451. Device set classroom decisionsmay be determined within the relevant device set classroom or any otherclassroom device set or terminal, or alternately for example by any oneor more other terminals in the plurality of devices of the system,before being distributed to and broadcast at other device setclassrooms. Each device set in school 451 is arranged then to receivedirect user-to-device input data responsive to each device setclassroom's transmitted, received and broadcast data in its device setschool 451.

In at least one alternate embodiment, each device set group may havepreferably from 4 to 12 device sets, each device set classroom may havepreferably 3 to 12 device set groups, and each device set school mayhave preferably from 2 or 4 to 1000 or more (as manageable) device setclassrooms.

In at least one embodiment, rather than being in closed communicationwith only certain other device sets, device sets may be in opencommunication with any one or more device sets, but only selectivelydisplay or broadcast data input from other devices sets so as to provideclosed communication device display and broadcast.

As used herein, display or displaying are respectively a type ofbroadcast or a type of broadcasting, and broadcast and broadcasting eachrequire digital data signal transduction into readily-understandable byhuman form, and which may be limited to broadcast by only one device.

In at least one embodiment, each student device set is determined by,e.g., password protection and is for use by only one student. Yet in atleast one alternate embodiment multiple participants may use each deviceset each at different times or collectively at the same time. As usedherein, the term “device” and “terminal” shall be meant to include botha single digital communication device over the duration of the method,and multiple such devices in the same device set performing orconfigured to perform one or more of the various method steps (orsubsteps) and having one or more of the various method features and/orelements.

In at least one embodiment, features performed by each device createuser impressions, actions and reactions individually and/or specificallydue to each single one, or various combinations of every one of suchfeature(s) or feature element(s)' execution. Through a complex interplayof specially programmed device and human interactive and criticalthinking, it has been surprisingly discovered that a far more advanceddigital communication method can be achieved, which optimizes andharnesses biological critical thinking Non-limiting examples include oneor more of certain features and options attributable to featureelement(s) such as individual communications and sequences ofcommunications to and/or from a device and/or certain other devices;broadcast, display, determination, and/or storage of data; placements,timings and/or sequences of such features; and the programmed control orchange of the sequence, timing, and availability of any or all suchfeatures and/or elements, each resulting either individually or fromvarious of the myriad disclosed embodiments herein. As the methodmanifests, e.g., both a sequence of physically changing devices andunexpected influences on the physical learning and decision makingability of its participants occur, as is further discussed andillustrated below.

Thus, in various of the embodiments, the method produces the creation ofan advanced digital communications network that causes at least any oneor more of (1) training, (2) educating, (3) facilitated educating, (4)one or more of enhancing and promoting, one or more of biologicalsynaptic growth and biological synaptic numerosity, and (5) bettercollective decision making. In all of these, one or more of electronicsignals, computers, and electronic devices are necessary or the onlymeans/tools for obtaining such effect(s).

In such embodiments, the method facilitates one or more of learning,unbiased decision making and critical thinking. For instance, there hasbeen an observed enhancement of data input by a terminal user andresulting output, after user interaction with broadcast or displayeddata resulting therefrom, which is achieved by among other factors,unbiased critical thinking in light of one or more the user's existingknowledge and information obtained from operation of an embodimentterminal.

Alternatively or in addition, in at least several of the embodiments themethod creates unexpected advantages by removing one or more ofphysiological, sociological, or other interpersonal biases that areunrelated to the merits of education or learning.

In any of the embodiments, “users” and “students” can be any one or moreof the following non-limiting examples: students, non-traditionalstudents, employees, corporate or unincorporated or non-profitorganization members, unaffiliated individuals, and voters.

Referring to FIGS. 1D, 1E and 1F, in at least one embodiment, any one ormore of the steps and substeps contained in such FIGS. 1D-1E (oralternately or additionally, as more fully described herein below) maybe used, including by (1) one or more computer readable mediumcontaining instructions, which when executed, and/or by (2) one or moreprocessors arranged to (e.g., preconfigured or configured to):Causevisual screen display of login and password field(s) at screen orotherwise request authentication of user or device set identity—throughone or more of native or non-native operating system(s) withuser-understandable language (a) visual display interface application(s)or (b) audio (or video) recording and/or audio and/or video broadcastinterface application(s), optionally coupled to web browser applicationand/or e-mail client application, IP protocol, pop3/imap, http, https,smtp, sms and/or non-native operating system with user understandablelanguage display or audio interface application(s) 331;

Accept login and password data input at user device set(s), andauthenticate using local operating system software scripted, or othernon-native software scripted, login field at device set (or remotelyauthenticate after causing device set to transmit to other device set(s)or device server), and then enable password unlock script to allowaccess to webpage or e-mail interface—through one or more of operatingsystem with user understandable language display or audio recordinginterface application(s) coupled to web browser application and/ore-mail client application, IP protocol, pop3/imap, http, https, smtp,sms and operating system with user understandable language display oraudio interface application(s) 333;

If not already set up, initiate database(s) set up by requesting inputand collecting input data of user(s)' and/or administrator(s)'identities, scores determined via system pre-collaboration testing,individual characteristics, personal data, user identifier(s) andpassword, and/or user e-mail addresses received using interface of theauthentication step with separate data entry field(s) at device set(s);automatically transmitted—through one or more of operating system withuser understandable language display or audio recording interfaceapplication(s) coupled to web browser application and/or e-mail clientapplication, IP protocol, pop3/imap, http, https, smtp, sms andoperating system with user understandable language display or audiointerface application(s) 402;

Receive input user data from users via their device set(s) and storecollected data to system server database or peer-to-peer database usingserver side scripting (PHP, Python, Ruby) with database API (ApplicationProgramming Interface) 403; Based on one or more of pre-set defaultselection numerical options, user test results, common user profilecharacteristics, and administrator input/selection in response to systemrequest at administrator device set(s) to input—determine what devicesets and how many device sets are in the same first tier group, in thesame class (a/k/a second tier group), and in the same school (a/k/athird tier group); generate database device set profile association fordevice set(s) in each group, class and school—through one or more ofoperating system with user understandable language display or audiorecording interface application(s) coupled to web browser applicationand/or e-mail client application, IP protocol, pop3/imap, http, https,smtp, sms and operating system with user understandable language displayor audio interface application(s) 405;

Administrative device set(s) receive(s) input from user device set(s) ordatabase store regarding, and sends related data that indicate, whatdevice set(s) will receive and be allowed to display same communicationsor substantially the same communication as other device set(s) if systemdoes not otherwise automatically select this based on databasecriteria—through one or more of operating system with userunderstandable-language visual display or audio recording/broadcastinterface application(s), optionally coupled to web browser applicationand/or e-mail client application, IP protocol, pop3/imap, http, https,smtp, sms and operating system with user understandable language displayor audio interface application(s) 407;

System device set(s) send(s) (and administrative device set(s) receives)request to enter question data at e.g., GUI, keyboard, mouse, throughmicrophone coupled to audio recording and/or voice recognition software,or via digital device camera—through one or more of operating systemwith user understandable language display or audio recording and/orbroadcasting interface application(s) coupled to web browser applicationand/or e-mail client application, IP protocol, pop3/imap, http, https,smtp, sms and operating system with user understandable language displayor audio interface application(s) 408;

Administrator device set(s) receive(s) question data input through oneor more of e.g., GUI, keyboard, mouse, microphone coupled to audiorecording and/or voice recognition software, and digital devicecamera—through one or more of operating system with user understandablelanguage display or audio recording and/or broadcasting interfaceapplication(s) coupled to web browser application and/or e-mail clientapplication 409;

If answer data are previously input into and sent from user deviceset(s), and received by other device set(s) or one or more administratordevice set(s), administrator(s) is/are given one or more chances tomodify original or subsequent question data with other question data,which is received if so input 411;

Convert question data and send via transmission protocol (such as http,https, sms, smtp in email client or web browser) to system server orsystem device set(s) for storage 413;

Receive question data by system server or one or more system deviceset(s) and store the question data in database using database software415;

Add question data object(s) (or answer data object(s) if any, orcollaboration data objects, or selection data object(s) if any) to queuein system server(s) or one or more device set(s) 417;

Transfer chronological (e.g., via batch job batch mode program) questiondata (or answer data or collaboration data or selection data) objects ona periodic basis from the queue 419;

Send chronological (e.g., via batch job batch mode software) objects todevice set(s)' associated http page(s), e-mail relay server gatewayand/or software, or other forms of push notification software—for eachdevice set depending on device set associations in database and deviceset network connection preference and/or account type, and optionally inaccordance with device set group, class, and school associations storedin database, after retrieving current such associations from database421;

Widely distribute question data (or answer data if any or collaborationdata if any) at least to device set(s) (in same school for questiondata, in same group for originally submitted same group answer data, inthe same group for same group collaboration data, in the same class forsame class group consensus answer data, in the same school for sameschool class consensus answer data) via combination of via e.g., one ormore of IP protocol, pop3/imap, http, https, smtp, sms, and operatingsystem with user understandable language display or audio interfaceapplication(s) 423;

User device set(s) receives question data text or audio data input fromadministrative device set(s) (or answer data or collaboration data fromother user device set(s) per above-indicateddatabase-association-derived rules), directly at user device set(s) viae.g., one or more of IP protocol, pop3/imap, http, https, sms, andoperating system with user understandable language display or audiointerface application(s) 425;

User device set(s)' native or virtual application, such as e-mailclient, thin client software, desktop application, web browserapplication or smart phone application, converts question data (or otherof same group device set(s)' answer data if any, or other of same groupdevice set(s)' collaboration data if any, or same class group consensusanswer data) and causes visual screen display or other broadcast ofquestion data based on question data text or audio data input fromadministrative device set (or of user(s) or other device set(s)' answerdata if any, collaboration data, class consensus answer data, or schoolconsensus answer data) 427;

User device set(s) receive textual or audio input of answer data (and/orcollaboration data and/or selection data) in response to question data(or in response to other device set(s)' answer data, collaboration data)through e.g., one or more of GUI, key board, mouse, audio recordingand/or voice recognition software, and digital device camera 429;

User device sets(s)' native or virtual application, such as e-mailclient, thin client software, desktop application, web browserapplication or smart phone application, converts input answer data(and/or input collaboration data and/or input selection data, if any) inresponse to question data (or in response other user device set(s)'answer data or user device set(s)' collaboration data) 431;

User device sets(s) sends converted answer data (and/or inputcollaboration data and/or input selection data) via e.g., one or more ofIP protocol, pop3/imap, http, https, smtp, sms, and operating systemwith user understandable language display or audio interfaceapplication(s) 433;

One or more user device set(s) or system server(s) receives answer data(and/or previously stored group, class or school answer data,collaboration and selection data if any) via e.g., one or more of IPprotocol, pop3/imap, http, https, smtp, sms, and operating system withuser understandable language display or audio interface application(s)435;

Database receives and stores question data, answer data, collaborationdata, and selection data as they accumulate 437. Database determinesassociations between question data, collaboration data if any, answerdata if any, and selection data if any 439. One or more system serversor system device set(s)' processor(s) stores associations between devicesets, question data, answer data, collaboration data (if any) andselection data (if any) in database 441; and based on previously storedassociations new question data are generated 443;

Determine whether answer data have been distributed to device set(s)445. If not, then distribute answer data 447 per one or more of abovesteps and again perform step 417 et seq. for next type of data in systemdefault or administrator device set(s) data input-selected sequence(received into and transmitted from, administrator(s) device set(s) inresponse to input into system at such device set(s) to receive suchinput data);

If “yes” at 445, then determine whether final collaboration data havebeen distributed 449. If not, then distribute current collaboration data455 per one or more of above steps and again perform step 417 for nexttype of data in system default or administrator device set(s) datainput-selected sequence (received into and transmitted from,administrator(s) device set(s) in response to input requested by systemdisplay at such device set(s) to receive such input data);

If “yes” at 449, then determine whether selection data have beendistributed 453. If not, then distribute selection data 447 (to one ormore of administrator, group, class, or school device set(s)) and againperform step 417 for next type of data in system default oradministrator device set(s) data input-selected sequence (received intoand transmitted from, administrator(s) device set(s) in response t oinput requested by system display at such device set(s) to receive suchinput data);

If “yes” at 453, then end 457 module or move on to any one of steps 331,333, 402, 403, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 411 for further use of any oneor more of the disclosed method embodiments.

In addition to or alternately, for any one or more of steps 331 to 457,sub steps therein, and any method steps or individual sub steps orfeatures or elements herein, any information-to-device input can bethrough any one or more native or non-native operating system(s),optionally coupled directly or via application software and or driversto GUI, keyboard, mouse, microphone and audio/video recording and/orvoice recognition software, digital device camera, trackball, touchpad,touch screen, and/or other computer, PDA, or phone data entry device orperipheral.

In addition to or alternately, for any one or more of steps 331 to 457,sub steps therein and any method steps or individual sub steps orfeatures or elements herein, any receiving and/or transmitting of datamay be implemented through one or more of native or non-native operatingsystem(s) with user-understandable language (a) visual display interfaceapplication(s) or (b) audio (or video) recording and/or audio and/orvideo broadcast interface application(s), optionally coupled to one ormore of web browser application and/or e-mail client application, IPprotocol, pop3/imap, http, https, smtp, sms and/or non-native operatingsystem and understandable language display or audio interfaceapplication(s).

In addition to or alternately, for any one or more of steps 331 to 457,sub steps therein and any method steps or individual sub steps orfeatures or elements herein, any database entry and/or associations maybe implemented, for example, by PERL and/or SQL script(s), or otherdatabase software.

In addition to or alternately, for any one or more of steps 331 to 457,sub steps therein, and any method steps or individual sub steps orfeatures or elements herein, any converting or translating may beimplemented for example, by Dragon™, SRI and/or Apple™-developed SIRI™voice recognition software and/or Google™ foreign language text or otherdigital speach speech recognition and/or digital machine translationsoftware.

Now referring to FIG. 2, in at least one embodiment an answer-derivedhierarchy of device sets develops within a predetermined device setarchitecture through one or more of collaboration and (e.g., followedby) competition, thereby to create a surprisingly optimized andun-expectantly advanced, digital communication network. Providing thebasic framework for this hierarchy are various tier groups, to a singleone of which each device set may belong at any given time (such as whilein a particular tier or in at least one embodiment, even momentarily).At each tier, various device sets display information based on data fromother device sets in their same single tier group. In the first tier,the device sets in each first-tier group have been determined at leastin advance of their first collaboration. A second-tier group includesdevices sets from an increased pool of possible device sets, which isgreater than the number of device sets that were in a given device set'sfirst tier group. A third-tier group includes device sets from a furtherincreased pool of possible device sets, which is greater than the numberof device sets that were in a given device set's second-tier group. Inat least one alternate embodiment, however, both collaboration andcompetition may partially or completely precede or follow the other.

Overall Learning or Decision Making Cascade

The overall structure of at least one embodiment drives students/usersto first collaborate then compete to determine a single result, orgroup-consensus. Thereafter, the groups first experience inter-groupcollaborative learning and then compete to determine a single result, or“classroom” consensus. These “classrooms” then compete (without acollaboration stage) to determine a single (or multiple) “school”consensus. This process demands that each challenge be addressed,analyzed and results modified on three separate occasions and withadvancing levels of student-to-student interactivity. This provides thebest prospects for better collaboration, more active completion, andenhanced learning and subject matter retention.

Organizational Hierarchy

At least one embodiment provides that the number of students thatinteract to create the group and classroom consensus(es) will be smallenough to allow participation by all “students” (i.e., users) Overallarchitecture hierarchy 22 depends on groups. Groups 35 are learning ordecision making units composed of from three to twelve device sets 27 inthe same first tier. These groups are organized into classrooms 33 thatcan be composed from one to twelve groups 35 in a same second tier. Thenumber of device sets in a group and the number of groups in a classroomhave been determined as t h e minimum number of students for meaningfulinteractivity and so that the maximum number will not overwhelm or allowstudents to hide, allowing and requiring all students a chance formeaningful participation and not over burdening and confusing studentsby requiring them to review and process more than twelve responses atany one time.

In at least one embodiment, the predetermined method architecture willaccommodate up to about 1000 classrooms 33 in a school 31 at the samethird tier. Given these parameters, the architecture is configured todictate that at least one embodiment of the method can accommodate asfew as about nine students and as many as about 144,000 students 23.There is no limit as to the number of students in a school 31 byincreasing the number of classrooms 33. This gives the program theflexibility to be used in all settings, from small, to medium and verylarge educational or non-educational (the latter intended only fordecision making) settings.

In at least one preferred embodiment, the maximum group size is no morethan 8 device sets. And a preferred maximum class size should be no morethan about 8 groups. This means that no user will need to evaluate morethan seven answers at any one time. More preferably, six device sets arein each group so each user needs to evaluate 5 other answers.

In at least one embodiment, these groups can be organized into multipleclassrooms with as few as three and a maximum of about twelve groups ina classroom.

In at least one embodiment, all classrooms in a course may be organizedinto a school.

In at least one embodiment, an ideal minimum and maximum number ofstudents in a group and groups in a classroom is a minimum number ofstudents needed for meaningful interactivity, and the maximum number isa maximum number that will not overwhelm. Both minimum and maximumnumbers allow all students a chance for meaningful participation and donot over burden students by requiring them to review and process morethan twelve responses at any one time. In at least one preferredembodiment, three to twelve students may provide maximum functionalityto an embodiment.

Now referring to FIG. 3, in at least one embodiment by execution of aneducator course set-up module 1, which in at least one embodiment can beconfigured to perform educator set-up, prior to students being assignedinto a group all students are required to study pre-assigned materials,and thereafter take a group pre-qualification entrance examination. Thegroup pre-qualification entrance examination assures that all thoseassigned into a group have a minimum comprehension of the subjectmatter. This increases the likelihood of critical interactivity amonggroup members and between groups. This in turn drives critical thinkingand creativity, creating thoughtful and diverse short answer resultsleading to more comprehensive learning, better learning retention, and amore well-rounded understanding of subject matter. As a result studentsreceive a better platform, from which to use the educational subjectmatter in their lives.

In at least one embodiment, an educator sets parameters prior toinitiating a course. These parameters include: (a) the content to bestudied, (b) test questions for an entrance examination to qualify forgroup entrance, (c) questions (challenges) that will be posed to allgroups, (d) time intervals for the completion of each step, (e) answerlength parameters, and (f) other parameters. This set-up process giveseducators the flexibility to optimize educational programs better tomeet the needs of students and allows educators the opportunity to usetheir experience and unique teaching method(s) and knowledge.

In at least one embodiment, by execution of an intergroup qualificationand assignment module 3, which can be configured to perform intergroupqualification and assignment, students perform one or more of (a)conducting independent study, (b) taking a group entrance exam, (c)passing (or not) an exam, (d) being admitted and assigned to a group.

In at least one embodiment, by execution of an inter-group collaborativelearning module 5, which can be configured to enable inter-groupcollaborative learning, challenges are answered in the form of shortanswers. Challenges can be issued one at a time, or as a slate of up tofive or even more up to any N number. In at least one preferredembodiment, at each stage of the process space available for a shortanswer doubles. Limiting the number of characters allowable for eachshort answer requires both individuals and groups to distill largebodies of knowledge into short punchy responses highlighting areas theydeem important, and perhaps even more importantly, to choose whatinformation to exclude so as to become more competitive in votingcompetitions. This feature also better assures that differentindividuals and groups address different areas of the subject matteraugmenting the collaborative portion of the education process. Thisfeature increases the chances for students to invent new ideas whileexploring the subject matter and increases overall learning andretention.

In at least one embodiment, one goal is to determine a school consensusfor one or more of each challenge and each slate. The stages in this12-step process include any one or more of the following:

[1] individual short answer,

[2] group members share answers with in a group,

[3] individuals offered/receive chance to change answers one time(answer space doubles),

[4] group members vote to determine the group consensus,

[5] group consensus results are shared with all other groups in aclassroom,

[6] individual group chat-rooms are opened/made available foreducator-definable period of time,

[7] groups offered/receive chance to change their answers with majorityvote (allotted answer space doubles),

[8] groups vote to determine a classroom consensus,

[9] classroom consensus results are delivered to all groups,

[10] groups vote in heats to determine a school consensus,

[11] educator comments on school consensus, and

In at least one embodiment, by execution of an group disbanding andindividual testing module 7, which can be configured to perform groupdisbanding and individual testing:

[12] groups are disbanded and students are tested individually.

In at least one embodiment, students may be anonymous or identified.

Whether a student is known by that student's real or virtual identity,all students may track one or more of their own and another/otherstudent's(s′) performance(s) on a real-time or delayed basis onscoreboard 65, which is output on, e.g., one or more of any printedmedium and any graphical user interface by scoreboard module 56.

In at least one embodiment, this scoring takes place automatically byone or more computer algorithm tracking key words and/or phrases thatare similar to the consensus results at the various stages. In this way,larger numbers of students can have high scores even if their particularshort answer failed to win in the voting competition, but largelyresembles with winning answers.

In at least one embodiment, maintaining participation may requirefollowing simple rules requiring on-going participation. For example,failing to participate in any three required steps may cause a studentto be eliminated from a course. Processes are integrated to identify andeliminate students exhibiting inappropriate behavior. On-going positivefeedback rewards are given to individual students, groups andclassrooms. In at least one embodiment, successful learning isdetermined 9, e.g., by individual testing. Several non-limitingunexpected advantages of several individual of the variousabove-indicated features include how at least one embodiment drivescritical thinking and creativity during the educational process, andgives educators better insight into the actual level of comprehensionstudents have about specific subject matter. First, it (also understoodto mean one or more of multiple embodiments going forward) allows allstudents effectively to participate without the effect of physiologicalor other non-scholastic-merit-based dominance. Second, it maximizesstudent participation by grouping them into small manageable groups.Third, it creates a competitive game-like environment drivinginteractivity, enhancing learning and retention. Fourth, it isself-policing automatically excluding students and allowing educators tofocus on educating students. Fifth, it gives educators keen insight intothe thinking process of students and groups of students allowing them tocraft and optimize student interaction and lectures. Sixth, it can beused as both an education and testing tool. Seventh, it allows fewereducators productively to educate more students increasing system-wideefficiencies and saving money. Eighth, it may also allow the overseersof educators keen insight into the effectiveness of individualeducators, providing the opportunity for optimization of the educatorpool. Ninth, it optimizes group dynamics by a natural selection process.Further, it provides for complete accountability by testing studentsindividually at the end of a process.At least one embodiment is apre-programmable educator led method. After initial set-up, itautomatically and seamlessly allows organization and coordination ofcompetitive student-to-student learning interactions, driving studentsstepwise into deeper and deeper understanding of subject matterincorporating collaborative and competitive processes of group-thinkingand consensus building. It is alternately completely performed locallyby one or more students him/herself or themselves. It surprisingly takesadvantage of anonymity and objectivity, removing, in large part, social,political and other negative aspects of group dynamics, focusing insteadon more intellectual, logic-based, interactivity and thought processes.

In at least one embodiment, a method is implemented as an internet orintranet-based implementation on one of more special purpose computersthat may be programmed by educators in accordance with their educationalphilosophy and subject matter.

Once-programmed, at least one embodiment automatically groups studentsinto learning groups that collaborate on pre-defined questions(challenges). In at least one embodiment, the executed program has oneor more of four distinct modules.

Non-limiting examples include: (a) educator course set-up module 1, (b)group qualification and assignment module 3, (c) inter-groupcollaborative learning module 5, and (d) group disbanding and individualtesting module 7.

Non-Limiting Example Software Components

Educator(s) Course Set-up Module 1 may comprise one or more of severalmodules, several non-limiting example of which are as follows.

Universal Content Sink Module 11: An educator-modified and loadedprogram that is adaptable to any kind of educational content. Thiscontent can include any one or more of the following non-limitingmaterials: text based, video, e-learning, assigned independent researchand traditional classroom lectures. Any content can be placed intoUniversal Content Sink Module 11 directly or through an Internet linkThis allows educators quickly and easily to set up course materials byselecting a link and uploading the course materials or posting thecourse materials, and by linking them to existing educational content.This in turn allows fewer educators effectively to create classmaterials for more students, thus saving education system resources. Italso allows for flexibility quickly to modify course content to meet theneeds of individual classrooms and update educational content inaccordance with an evolving knowledge base.

Educator Defined Parameters Module 13: Prior to initiating the course,the educator(s) program the course parameters in accordance with theireducation philosophy and in accordance with the appropriateness of thesubject matter. These parameters may include any one or more of thefollowing and are described in further detail below:

a) minimum and maximum students per group is-between about 3 to 12students,

b) minimum and maximum groups per Classroom is-between about 3 to12groups

c) group entrance examination questions and passing criteria, from about10 to 100 questions,

d) course group challenges (or groups of challenges) and number ofinitial text characters available for answering the challenges,

e) time constraints per program stage, and

f) student anonymity preference

g) group assignment method, and

h) inactive or problem student resolution options.

Group Entrance Examination Loading Module 15: Educator(s) pre-loads allchallenges that will be posed to student groups in sequential order inwhich the challenges will be given to the groups. This program willaccommodate from one to one-hundred challenges per course.

Challenge (e.g., question) Loading Module 17: In at least oneembodiment, each challenge can be either a single challenge or a maximumof two, three, four, five, six or seven or more, preferably five,challenges in a single group. This group of challenges will be referredto herein as a ‘slate’.

In at least one embodiment, all challenges may be programmed and areappropriate for short-answer text-based questions. In at least onepreferred embodiment, it is critical that challenges are appropriate forshort-answer, text questions and short-answer text questions. Anadvantage of a short answer is that it mandates a critical evaluation ofthe subject matter and demands students process the educational content.Short answer questions also allow for collaborative opportunities and abetter overall evaluation of subject matter mastery, allowing for ameaningful competitive voting process. All of this in turn drivescritical thinking and creativity, creating thoughtful and diverse shortanswer results leading to more comprehensive learning, better learningretention and more well-rounded understanding of the subject matter. Ittherefore provides a better platform from which to use the educationalsubject matter in their lives.

Now referring to FIG. 4, each student prepares for and attempts to passa group entrance examination. If the student passes, the student isassigned to a group.

Independent Study Module 19: Each student prepares by performingself-study of the subject matter.

Group Entrance Examination and Student Assignment Modules 21 and 23: Toinsure all students entering the program have the minimum level ofunderstanding to interact with other students, the educator(s) willenter from about 10 to 100 multiple-choice test questions. Theeducator(s) can restrict group entry by cutting off the ratio of correctanswers necessary for participation. Students not passing can bere-directed to the universal content sink module 11 for further studyusing independent study module 19. The group entrance examination 21increases the likelihood of critical interactivity among group membersand between groups. This also in turn drives critical thinking andcreativity, creating thoughtful and diverse short answer results leadingto more comprehensive learning, better learning retention and a morewell-rounded understanding of the subject matter.

A subsequent step is group assignment. After a student passes the groupentrance examination, he/she is assigned to a group composed of fromthree to twelve students. Educator(s) have one or more of severalnon-limiting options for determining group selection for each student'splacement. These include, but are not limited to:

a) randomly (default setting),

b) selected placement by the educator(s),

c) interaction optimization by results from a personality test. or

d) by group entrance examination scores.

Students can be anonymous or their identities can be shared at thediscretion of the educator(s).

Each student placed into a learning group will be assigned a differentusername and password for each course. In the case a student changesgroups for any reason the username will b e changed. This provides forbetter anonymity, which will provide an open environment less prone tophysiological dominance and increased overall participation amongstudents.

In at least one alternate or additional embodiment, it has beensurprisingly discovered that having a random assortment of group membersforces groups into fairly drastic compromising positions and drivestoward a single homogenized consensus. Yet, this configuration does notnecessarily mimic traditional interactions.

Complex inquiries typically have several points of view, and none ofthese points of view are necessarily wrong or better. Reasonable peoplecan disagree, and differing assumptions often lead to vastly differingbut reasonable results even when such results are vetted by criticalthinking and rational analysis.

It has been discovered quite surprisingly that groups formed of membersharing disparate backgrounds may lead to disjointed or unpredictableresults. To provide a more traditional learning experience that moresuccinctly produces honed and sharpened collaborative critical views,participants are self-selected by their own personal, demographic,philosophical, educational characteristics early in the process suchthat these groups having one or more common attributes operate amongstthemselves in the same groups (or classes depending on the number ofparticipants).

Their task is to develop the best consensus answer to reflect theirperspective and point of view. Midway through or at the end of theprocess, they each arrive at their own relatively more coherent andrepresentative views. Collectively several group, class or even schoolconsensus results result, which reflect the best answers from differentrecognized positions or common attributes.

Using this alternate embodiment (or in combination with certain degreeof randomization or subject matter mastery pre-testing), users can begrouped early by one or more of: (a) Results of a belief survey (thatwould be imbedded in the group entrance examination., (b) by analyzingtheir early voting/ranking patterns, and (c)simple self-selectionprocess.

The inclusion and weight given to these types of feature(s) versussubject matter mastery can be dependent on one or more of the philosophyof the administrator and the subject matter being learned.

Staged Challenge Answer Submission

Now referring to FIG. 5A, in at least one embodiment, to force studentsto think critically the number of characters allowable for short answersis limited. As each stage of the process progresses, the maximum lengthof each answers double to allow room for additional content from anincreasing number of students within the pool of answer submissions.Therefore, if the educator(s) set(s) the first submission at 30characters maximum, the second set of answers automatically include amaximum of 60 characters, and the third a maximum of 120 characters.This doubling of space occurs a maximum of three times. In determiningthe maximum characters the program may include all letters, numbers andspaces.

Stage Max. # of Characters 1) Individual student answers, X 2) Groupconsensus answers, 2X 3) Classroom consensus answers, and 2X x 2 4)School consensus answer. 2X x 2 x 2

Limiting the number of characters allowable for the short answers willrequire both individuals and groups to distill large bodies of knowledgeinto short punchy responses highlighting areas they deem important (andequally importantly, forcing students to prioritize and excludeinformation) to make more competitive responses for the voting process,giving them the best chance of winning in the voting competition. Thisfeature better assures that different individuals and groups willaddress different areas of the subject matter augmenting thecollaborative portion of the education process. A resultingunpredictable result is an increase in student chances to invent newideas while exploring the subject matter and increasing overall learningand retention.

The automated and mandatory doubling of allowable space for short answerresponses at each of the first three phases facilitates collaborationbetween students and between groups. This increases the number andcomplexity of new concepts that can be included into a short answerresponse at each phase and forces people to combine ideas into one ormore single coherent response(s). This thinking and collaborativeprocess surprisingly and unexpectedly deepens understanding of thesubject matter, increases retention and increases the possibility thatresponses will venture into new and unexplored and valuable areas thatare not foreseeable and not predictable.

Learning Cascade

In at least one embodiment a central feature is inter-groupcollaborative learning cascade 41. This organization and flow ofcompetitive results dictates that all groups in all classrooms in aschool are given the same challenge or slate of challenges.

This/these one or more challenge(s) are presented through the followingcascade, divided into one or more of at least three distinct studentlearning stages, optionally followed by one or more of at least twoeducator selectable stages. These include the non-limiting followingstages:

Stage 1: Groups are delivered the first challenge to determine a groupconsensus result by majority vote of group-mates.

Stage 2: Facilitation of group competition determines the classroomconsensus result by majority vote of the groups.

Stage 3: Classrooms are given the chance to compete by competitive heatsto determine a school consensus.

Stage 4: Educators are given the opportunity to respond to the schoolconsensus result.

Stage 5: After all challenges are complete, groups may be instructed todisband and students are tested independently.

These optional stages and other optional steps are described in greaterdetail below:

One or more of a plurality of devices on a decentralized, partiallycentralized, partially decentralized, or centralized network, display orotherwise broadcast group entrance examination(s) to one or more groupsof students or individual students and receive and tabulate or calculateexamination results for student(s) 43. Students via their unique devicesets 200 are assigned to groups 44. Pre-group formation examinationincreases the likelihood of critical interactivity among group membersand between groups. This in turn drives critical thinking andcreativity, creating thoughtful and diverse short answer results leadingto more comprehensive learning, better learning retention and givesstudents a more well-rounded understanding of the subject matter,therefore a better platform from whichto use the educational subjectmatter in their lives.

Stage 1: Groups Receive First Challenge & Determine Group ConsensusResult

All individual students populating all groups in a classroom and schoolare given the same challenge or slate of challenges. Sequentiallynumbered sets of identical challenges posed by one or more educators arepresented to all students in a group. A first set of challenge number“1” is displayed (or e.g., audibly or touch-sensory broadcast) tostudents 45. Each student in the group is required to submit a shortanswer in response to the challenge. This forces each student toindependently evaluate and respond to the subject matter prior tocollaborating with other students.

This serves the purpose of validating meaningful participation by eachindividual, setting the stage for meaningful collaboration, informedvoting and a richer learning experience and knowledge retention. Thesestudents may access universal content sink module 11 at any time to helpthem determine their individual response.

Challenges can be given as a single question or in batches of up to 5questions per challenge slate. This gives the educator(s) theflexibility to optimize the program in accordance with the subjectmatter, length of course and classroom and student dynamics.

Devices receive individual response submission(s) 46. At apre-determined time, all submitted individual student results are sharedwith all group-mates within the individual groups. Students who have notsubmitted answers are permitted to proceed only in accordance with athree-strike rule or other rule implemented to discipline students.

Individual students within a group share their responses only with theothers in their assigned group 101, group 103, and group 105. Eachstudent within the group is encouraged to review the answers derived byhis/her group-mates. In at least one embodiment, all students have theability to change their answers one time 47. In at least one embodiment,the number of characters in the text message answer available for thenew answer is two times (double) the number in the students' originalresponse. After one change in each student's proposed answer, eachstudent's answer is made final and is submitted to the group by displayto individual student device(s) for individual evaluation and voting toselect the group-consensus result.

In an alternate embodiment, the individual evaluation of changed answersis replaced by a group of one or more of group discussion(s) andevaluation by (however) many participants who are able to control,possess or use a particular device set.

After all students have had the opportunity to review all final answersfrom their own group-mates, all group members may vote for whateveranswer they want to represent their group. Devices receive such votingdata 49, and assign each inputted or selected vote data to a particularanswer or set of answers. The collaborative result (or results) isdetermined, or received by direct student input, and becomes the groupconsensus result by tabulation or calculation of the group consensus 50.Thus, consensus is received by the network by voting selection by eachindividual participant (or group or participants) per device set at theone or more devices and determined by at least one device on the networkof devices and transmitted to one or more other devices on the networkof devices.

In at least one alternate embodiment consensus is received by thenetwork (in addition or instead of voting selection) by some otherdetermination and input at each device set (e.g., as by one or moredesignated students who verbally input via microphone one or more, textor verbally discussed and mutually agreed upon group consensus answer).

This stage brings multiple benefits to the educational process,non-limiting examples of which include the following. First, it forcesstudents to think and answer independently. This assures that thestudents go through an independent thinking process. Second, the sharingof results with their group-mates forces students to acknowledge andunderstand the different perspectives of other students and potentiallyincorporate these diverse ideas and opinions into their subsequentanswer(s). Third, this process also allows students the opportunity toextrapolate to new and unexplored areas. This feature increases thechances for students to invent new ideas while exploring the subjectmatter and increases overall learning and retention.

Allowing students to change answers only one time between answersubmissions forces students to examine all available information andgroup-mate responses carefully and deeply prior to submission. Thissingle chance better insures that students review the group-mates' andother groups' results prior to submission, thereby increasing programcompliance and deepening critical thinking, learning, and learningretention.

In at least one embodiment and as illustrated in FIG. 5B, which shows asupplement or replacement to step 47 above, multiple parallel on-linedata entry fields, e.g., in a web-browser page, form principlecomponents of dialogue box 691. This box 691 is alternately embedded insoftware architecture as described elsewhere herein and is available fordisplay on each device set in a particular group (or alternately classor school) for an optionally adjustable period of time. Each dialoguebox 691 is assigned to and represents (e.g., is populated with answerdata, collaboration data, and/or selection data associated with databasestored device set information for that group) any number from one to alldevice sets in a group, preferably with one dialogue box to each groupavailable for display at any given time. Each such box can be accessedonly by that assigned group, and can be viewed only by all students fromthat device set's group.

In at least one embodiment, each dialog box may or may not have anadjacent (i.e., above, beside, diagonal, and herein shown, below)associated retort box for providing remote, cursor-prompted entry andlocal and/or remote display of the associated device sets' revisions toanswer data in its own associated dialogue box.

Alternatively, there may or may not be just one (or two or three, orfewer than one for each dialog box) such retort box.

As such, each device set in a group can see a question field 699 andvertically disposed side-by-side retort boxes 701, 703, 705, 707, 709comprising data display fields assigned to, and containing revisableperiodically updated data only from, each one of every (or auser-selected number of) one's own group member(s). Each device set cansend revised answer data for incorporation into its own retort box, tobe transmitted and displayed in a same or different language or formatto all other device sets in its group.

In at least one embodiment, each dialogue box's retort box may or maynot have its own similarly variously adjacent discussion box 711 (forretort box 701), 713 (for retort box 703), 715 (for retort box 705), 717(for retort box 707), 719 (for retort box 709), wherein any group membermay make real-time or frequently updated textually displayed comments(either from text or audio voice recognition input at a remote terminal)about the answer inside the corresponding retort box. In at least oneembodiment, each dialogue box's retort box (as displayed and ranked ateach group device display) may or may not have its own similarlyvariously adjacent (and/or diagonal and overlapping at a corner as shownherein) selection dropdown numerical ranking selector (or alternatelynumerical input data field) 721 (for retort box 701), 723 (for retortbox 703), 725 (for retort box 705), 727 (for retort box 707), 729 (forretort box 709), wherein any group member may make real-time orfrequently updated textually displayed ranking selections that remainuntil changed. (These could be change either from drop down of numbersup to and equal to the number of group members N−1 (not including adevice set's own box) text or audio voice recognition input at a remoteterminal) about the ranking inside the corresponding selector field.(Here we see the screen displayed on a device set associated with thesame user who has an answer data displayed in retort box 703 of his own(as well as other same group members' device set displays).

Each dialogue box operates in accordance with one or more of: The amountof time that the boxes are active is limited by administrator input intoits/their device set(s) (e.g., educator). All dialogue boxes open andclose at the same, or substantially the same, time. As seen, dialogueboxes have character limited text input fields, pre-set to the maximumnumber of characters selected for a group consensus result. Device setsallow user access and changing of responses as often as a user wishes,as long as dialogue boxes are open. In at least one embodiment, displaydevice sets display activity generated by other device sets in the samegroup in real time and allow each device set user(s) to respond tochanges based on that user's individual preferences, schedule anddesires (within the time boxes are open). Device set users can likewisechoose to be notified whenever a fellow group-mate changes his/herresult. Users can also choose to be notified about changes to anydialogue box, or to one or more specific dialogue box(es) or retortboxes or other fields in dialog box 691. When participants are activelylogged into their devices displaying these dialog boxes, otherparticipants are made aware of this by a ‘participant-active’ iconassociated with each retort box in each dialog box. Through various ofthe operating software mentioned herein and using relevant scripts foreach respective operating system or via web browser interface deviceset(s) are arranged to enable users also to communicate with othergroup-mates—but only within the constraints of the character limitation(and, if they want to communicate anything more they must type overexisting text in order to stay within the character limits). In otherwords, at no time do participants have more characters in a dialogue boxthan the designated character limitation. At any time, participants canview the activity history of any selected group, thus allowing studentsto review all changes made in any or all dialogue boxes. When theallotted time limit is reached, the dialogue box is frozen and responsesare uploaded as final answers to be voted upon by other group-mates.

Access to dialogue boxes is limited and restricted to participants ofthe same group in accordance with association database data for one ormore of each (1) dialog box, (2) each retort box, (3) each selectionranking drop down selector for each other group member device set, and(4) each discussion box also associated for each device set. Dependingon the subject matter and/or the educational philosophy of theeducator/administrator, these boxes can be used in at least threedifferent ways:

First, prior to determining the group consensus result, boxes can beactivated so that participants can interact before voting and can altertheir responses accordingly. Second, after the first group consensusresult has been determined and everyone can see the group consensusresults from all the other groups in their classroom, dialogue boxes areautomatically pre-populated with that group's consensus result. Thisresult can be manipulated by participants as much as they wish withinthe time limits, but once the time limit ends, the results are frozenand each group can again vote for a new group consensus result. Thisresult would compete to become the classroom consensus result. Third,any combination the first and second embodiments (immediately above).

Several unforeseen advantages arise from the dialog boxes.

When group participants view all the group consensus results in aclassroom and participate in collaboration via the dialog boxes, thecompetitive dynamics related to the initial group consensus votingprocess changes. What was formerly a competitive dynamic transforms intosomething more collaborative and users suddenly become motivated to helpeach to achieve the best group result. Because these features allowinteraction only in a user-friendly format (limited in length andcontrolled by the participants themselves), it less frequentlyoverwhelms participants, particularly those who are more reticent. Italso forces students to process information in manageable bites, whichshould lead to a more efficient and effective collaboration.

Since the use of these features means that users can be remotelynotified when one or more group-mates have made changes to theirresponses, it alleviates the need for students to be constantly loggedinto the system. This saves time for users by allowing them to stay upto date on inter-group activities while doing something else. Thesefeatures also allows users to see the entire history of changes madewithin a given dialogue box via device set display. This saves time andkeeps students up to date on inter-group activities while they areperforming other tasks.

Device sets configured to display and operate such feature(s) lets usersknow which group-mates are actively engaged and also provides aconversation-like environment among the two or more logged-on users.This creates increased collaboration between individuals and to providequiet group observers with the chance to learn from these interactions.

Allowing educators or administrators to choose when to activate thesefeatures gives such educators and/or administrators the flexibility toadjust time frames according to a challenge and/or differing subjectmatter and group dynamics.

Through extensive research, it is surprisingly discovered that usersclearly value the ability to interact more with their group-mates duringthe process. By comparison, a standard chat environment, however, hasseveral drawbacks: a) it is unorganized and is difficult to track; b)some participants can easily overwhelm the dialogue with excesstext—effectively drowning out other voices.

It is also clear that using any type of interactive text exchange at apoint just prior to voting for an initial group consensus result may becounter-intuitive for some participants due to the competitive naturebuilt into this stage of the process (e.g., there is a disincentive tohelp someone you will compete with later). Having dialog boxes activatedafter all initial group consensus results are shared among allparticipants in all groups within a classroom, however, dramatically andsurprisingly shifts this dynamic to one that rewards inter-groupcollaboration in preparation for the extra-group competition thatdetermines classroom consensus result.

It is further discovered that when the dialog boxes are activated inboth collaborative and competitive phases of the process, a complexpsychological dynamic is created, the results of which are likely hardto predict.

Stage 2: Group Competition to Determine Classroom Consensus

Referring again FIG. 5A, each group in a classroom has its chosengroup-consensus results displayed or otherwise broadcast on any one ormore of the network devices for review by the other groups 51 atscoreboard 65. Each group has the opportunity to review the groupconsensus results submitted by all other groups in a classroom.

At this time, the individual group's chat-rooms are un-locked for apre-determined amount of time, and students within the groups areallowed to interact by text-chat or another interactive computerizedmethod, such as VOIP or teleconference voice chat or via social mediaoutlet web pages and smartphone applications such as Facebook™, Twitter™or LinkedIn™, and may have the option of creating one or more revisedgroup-consensus result based on review of other groups' answers 51. Thisembedding of results and/or any other step of the method embodimentsdisclosed herein can be accomplished, e.g., by using one or more IPprotocol, smtp, http, https, sms scripts, and/or commonly used andavailable operating system [Windows®, Ubuntu, MacOS®] coupled with aserver-side scripting language (PHP, Pyton, Ruby, etc.) and databasesoftware (SQL etc.) and storage device or drive.

In at least one embodiment, allowing students to interact at this stageprovides students this opportunity at a time when they have deeplyconsidered the subject matter are best equipped to have deep interactivediscussions. This is a time when students can actively argue theirpoints with their group-mates with a goal of having their answers chosenas the classroom consensus. A motivation for this is linked to the factthat winners in these competitions get higher scores (as to studentsthat have similar answers to challenges) as determined e.g., in at leastone embodiment by one or more word and phrase matching algorithms.

In at least one embodiment, live interactive and simultaneous back andforth collaboration occurs only when the chat-room is open. All of theother collaborations are in the form of reviewing the responses fromothers in a group and/or classroom. At these other collaborationseverything happens within the confines of a participant's head, or insome cases a participant may refer for example to data broadcast by/fromUniversal Content Sink 11 or may for example conduct other researchoutside what is offered for broadcast on a device of an embodiment. Thisis critical because it creates an environment for originality. The ideal(and winning) answer may incorporate none, some, or all of the initialparticipant offered content. No previously expressed content, in fact,might be the most interesting, assuming the process created newconnections and ideas that would have not been derived by notexperiencing the effects of an embodiment process.

In at least one embodiment, allowing students to change answers only onetime between answer submissions forces students to examine all availableinformation and group-mate responses carefully and deeply prior tosubmission. This single chance better insures that students review thegroup-mates and other group's results prior to submission, therebyincreasing program compliance and deepening critical thinking, learningand learning retention.

In at least one embodiment, this new-group consensus result can have amaximum of double the number of characters as previously submitted.Changing the initial group consensus result may require, e.g., a simplemajority or super majority vote of voting group-mates in each group.This voting ballot functionality may be incorporated into each groupchat-room. If no majority vote is reached, the original inter-groupconsensus may remain the group-consensus result.

All students in a classroom then vote for which group answer they wantto represent their classroom. This result will determine aclassroom-consensus. Device sets receive such voting data 52, and assigneach inputted or selected vote data to a particular answer or set ofanswers. The winning result (or results) is determined and becomes theclassroom consensus result by tabulation or calculation of the classroomconsensus 53 for device sets 101, 103, 105, 107, 109, 111, 113, 115, and117. Thus, consensus is received by the network by voting selection orother competitive determination and input (such as by one or more groupdesignated students who verbally input via microphone one or more, textor verbally-argued or otherwise victorious group competition determinedanswer) at the one or more devices and determined by at least one deviceon the network of devices and transmitted to one or more other deviceson the network of devices.

In at least one embodiment, the voting process drives the competitivecomponent of the program. This incents individuals, groups andclassrooms the initiative to create interesting and engaging results tobetter assure their responses receive the votes from their peers. Thisin turn drives critical thinking and creativity, creating thoughtful anddiverse short answer results leading to more comprehensive learning,better learning retention and gives students a more well-roundedunderstanding of the subject matter, therefore a better platform fromwhich to use the educational subject matter in their lives.

In at least one embodiment, changing an answer in a group chat sessionrequires that at least 20%, 30%, 40%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% or preferably50% of group members vote in favor of changing the answer. If a majorityvote is not reached, an original and shorter group consensus result maystand in the competition to become the classroom consensus result. Thishighly incentivizes students to participate vigorously at this stage,increasing all student interaction with the subject matter, increasingthe possibility for unpredictable results and facilitating interaction,discussion and debate, thus deepening learning and increasing subjectmatter retention.

Stage 3: Determining a School Consensus

In at least one embodiment, a school consensus may be determined aftereach challenge or slate of challenges. In the event that there aremultiple classrooms, classroom results will be competed amongst eachother, in a minimum grouping of three and a maximum of grouping oftwelve classrooms. At each stage, results may be determined by a simplemajority voting process, wherein devices receive vote data 55.

Each classroom has a single vote based on a majority vote of its membergroups.

School consensus can be predetermined as instructed by the educator(s)58. This process continues until a single result represents a schoolconsensus for each challenge. In addition or alternately, this processmay be repeated for each challenge 59. All the results from each singleclassroom and all classrooms are shared with other classrooms viascoreboard 65. All students in the school are eligible to votethroughout this process. This process may continue until a single resultrepresents a school consensus for each challenge.

In at least one embodiment, devices next receive voting data todetermine through one or more of calculation and tabulation of classroomschool consensus.

In at least one alternate embodiment, before receiving voting data,devices display or broadcast classroom consensus(es) and enable sharingof results and one chance to make a change 54. Providing live text chat(or other communication method) only one time, optionally and preferablywith the timing of this single opportunity being just prior to thesubmission of the final classroom consensus result, is a critical aspectof at least one embodiment. This occurs after the challenge has gonethrough the collaborative and competitive process on two occasionswithin the groups and for the first time all groups can see the groupconsensus(es) from other groups. This flood of new information, alongwith the optional opportunity to once again double the number ofresponse characters is a complex and critical junction requiring themore organic interaction provided by live chat (or other preferably livecommunication method). This is a single opportunity for students to bepersuasive to further what they think or feel is the best short answerresult or other result to represent their group and ultimately theirclassroom. The resultant answer represents and is the last time for themto win the inter-classroom group competition and the one chance fortheir response to represent their classroom in the classroom run-offcompetitive heats and the possibility that their short answer responsecould win and become the school consensus result. This facilitates adebate-like format increasing collaboration and increasing learning,retention, critical thinking, decision making and learning retention.

Referring to FIG. 6, answers are competitively eliminated or progressthrough a bracketed tournament selection process 75. This process ofcompetitive elimination of answers from among competing classrooms 73forces all students to review the diverse set of short answer responseson multiple occasions and as winners in the voting competition begin toemerge, the logic behind why the majority of students are voting in acertain way provides a keen opportunity for students to refine theirunderstanding of the subject matter. This drives critical thinking andcreativity, better learning retention and gives students a morewell-rounded understanding of the subject matter.

Stage 4: Final Educator Comments and Instruction

Referring again to FIG. 5, in at least one embodiment educator(s) havethe option to comment on the school consensus result and provide finalinstruction 61. The educators' response can, for example, be a maximumof 10,000 characters or 60 minutes of video or audio programming and mayinclude links to other sites and other reference materials. This allowsthe educator(s) directly to address the students' needs rather thangiving them a pre-conceived, pre-determined pre-screened lecture.

Educator(s) can focus directly on areas where the participants' deficitslie and spend less time on areas where comprehension exists. Thisincreases the effectiveness of the teaching process and better utilizeslimited student—educator interaction. This also allows educators tocraft subsequent challenges to best meet the needs of the participatingstudents. As a result, at least one embodiment of the method drivescritical thinking and creativity, creating thoughtful and diverse shortanswer results leading to more comprehensive learning, better learningretention and gives students a more well-rounded understanding of thesubject matter, which therefore provides a better platform from which touse the educational subject matter in their lives.

Educator responses to school consensus results create transparency forthose charged with evaluating the competency of each educator or groupof educators. This also allows administrators to more predictablyidentify superior and poor performing educators, provide them remedialsupport where appropriate, and increase the efficiency of the overalleducational system by re-assigning or eliminating ineffective educators,thus increasing the overall effectiveness of educational systems.

Stage 5: Group Disbandment and Individual Testing

After all challenges are completed, groups are dissolved or disbandedand the remaining students are tested and scored individually todetermine their level of understanding 63. In at least one embodiment,this completes the method. Group disbandment and individual testingassures ultimate accountability for students who find ways to takeunfair advantage of weaknesses in the system, by shirking or othersocial or technical subterfuge non-limiting examples of which mayinclude, e.g., paying other students to participate on their behalf toparticipate in their stead. It is at the stage of the final examinationwhere actual comprehension of the subject matter will be individuallyascertained. Students aware of this individual testing component fromthe beginning are dis-incentivized and discouraged from cheating orgaming knowing that this ultimate challenge awaits. The final testing ofstudents on an individual basis bolsters the integrity of the entireprocess and best assures learning and retention.

In at least one embodiment, individual scores are accessed 67 andoptionally broadcast on one or more of each student, group, classroom,or school's version of scoreboard 65 according to whatever devicescorrespond to a particular student, students in a group, students in aclass, or students in a school, respectively.

Unlimited Number of Challenges

In at least one embodiment, a process of issuing challenges to groupscan continue for a minimum of a single question (challenge), or go formultiple challenges as determined by the educator(s). During thisprocess the educator(s) have several options for managing group membersbetween challenges. These options include, but are not limited to:

a) All groups remain intact for the duration of the course,

b) All members are shuffled randomly between group challenges

c) group members are grouped by performance with the best performersbeing grouped together, or)

d) group members are grouped by performance, spreading top performersevenly throughout the groups.

The best performers are considered to be those students whose submittedshort-answer results that receive the most votes from fellow students,or answers that effectively reflect or best coincide with predetermined(e.g., prior or pre-established or larger group paradigmatic answers)winning answers as determined by one or more word and/or phrasealgorithms.

This feature allows educators to customize and optimize courses inaccordance with their individual teaching methods and philosophies andto accommodate differences in classroom dynamics and subject matter.

Sequential or Grouped Challenges

A single challenge at a time or a group(s) of challenges (a Slate) canbe submitted to the groups. In at least one embodiment, the minimumnumber of challenges is one and the maximum number is one hundred.

In at least one embodiment, the maximum number of challenges that can beassigned in one Slate is five. Therefore, in such embodiment(s) themaximum number of challenges issued during an entire course may be 500.

This gives educators the flexibility to manage all types of courses,from short seminar-like courses to full-fledged semester based courses,using a single educational tool.

Student Drop Out or Group Change Request

Any student can drop out at any time by choosing a drop-out-of-courseoption. Students may request to be re-assigned to a different group upto three times in a course by selecting a ‘reassign me’ option. If aslot becomes available, a student will be reassigned to a differentgroup.

This function allows individual students to jump from one group toanother without penalty, and to do so anonymously. This allows studentswho are dissatisfied with the collaborative or competitive interactionto seek an environment more conducive to their individual needs. Thiswill create a kind of Darwinian natural selection process whereby groupsof people are optimized over time, allowing for better collaborative andmore competitive group-teams. This will deepen the collaborative andcompetitive nature of the program and create a deeper understanding ofthe subject matter and better overall learning retention.

Automatic Group Reassignment

In at least one embodiment, in the event that the number of individualswithin a group drops below the number set by the educator(s), or dropsbelow three students, the group will automatically be abandoned and thestudents reassigned to other groups.

In at least one embodiment, if a school drops below nine students, thecourse will automatically be closed. This provides more efficient use ofthe method so that its full potential and efficiencies can beapproximated. In other words, it assures that the functionality of suchembodiment(s) remain. It also provides a safety guard and transparencyin cases where the program is ill-suited to the subject matter,educators are poorly trained in their use of the embodiment, or studentsdo not have or exhibit a high perceived value of the course, or how itis conducted.

Flexible Time Intervals

At least one embodiment can be used as a tool from longer to shortertime intervals, depending upon the educator(s) preference. The followingare two non-limiting diverse examples of how such embodiment(s) may beused:

Two-week Challenge One-hour Challenge Characters Time (Hours) CharactersTime (Minutes) Stage 1: Qualification Group entrance 24 Group entranceexam Exam Group 24 Group assignments Assignments Stage 2: DeliverChallenge Individual 40 24 Individual 40 5 answer Answer Group-mate 24Group-mate 5 review all answers review all answers Change answer 80 24Change answer 80 5 one time one time Vote for group 24 Vote for group 5consensus Consensus Stage 3: Classroom Consensus Review all group 24Review all group 0 consensus results consensus results Open group 48Open group 30 chat-room chat-room Change group 160 24 Change group 160 5answer Answer Vote for classroom 24 Vote for classroom 5 consensusconsensus Stage 4: School Consensus Heat 1 vote 160 24 Heat 1 vote 160Semi-final vote 160 24 Semi-final vote 160 Final vote 160 24 Final vote160 Total Time 576 (14 days) Total Time 60 Minutes

The ability to change the time specification between course stagesallows the educator the option of designing courses that require veryrapid collaborative and competitive processes leading to consensusresults. It alternately allows longer time scales to accommodate a morethoughtful process. While the program methods are identical, theunderlying dynamics and results are different depending on time taken tocomplete the same one or more steps. In case of a faster process,quicker development of challenge and rapid competition and/or testingconditions students' minds for creative agility. In case of a slowerprocess, students are conversely given time for increased levels ofcollaboration, the ability to access outside resources and a deeper andmore thoughtful analysis prior to offering results. Altering these timescales will be a key tool to be used by the educator depending on thesubject matter and stage of the learning process. In an extreme form, afast program can be used as a competency assessment and testingmodality.

Inactive or Problem Students

Participation in at least one embodiment is governed by a simplethree-strike rule. Any student violating any three rules will be eitherexpelled from the course or preferably will be shunted back to the groupentrance examination section. Rules to maintain participation includeany one or more of the non-limiting following examples:

1)Failure to vote=one strike

2)Failure to submit an answer=one strike

3)Failure to log on to the group chat-room during the time allotted=onestrike. Educator(s) has/have the option of implementing the three-strikerule for each challenge (or challenge slate) or for the length of thecourse.

In at least one embodiment, in the event that a member of a group issubmitting non-sense, non-responsive or lurid answers, or beingbelligerent during chat-room sessions the members of the group canrequest that this student be removed from the group. This can only occurwith unanimous consensus of all group-mates (except the alleged abuser).This student will be reassigned to another group. If this student is‘blackballed’ from three groups, he/she will be expelled from thecourse. The ‘blackballed’ student's username will be changed whentransferred to the new group, allowing them a fresh start.

A three-strike rule allows for the program to automatically excludestudents who are non-participative or disruptive. Each of the followingnon-limiting examples will be considered one strike: a) not submittingan initial result, b) not altering answers between stages, c) not votingat any stage, d) not logging onto the scheduled chat. Given that thereare one or more of at least seven critical steps. These include 1)Initial answer, 2) Review of group results and changing initial answer(more characters), 3) Voting for group consensus result, 4)Participating in chat, 5) Changing answer (more characters) 6) Votingfor a classroom consensus result, and 7) Voting for a school consensusresult (multiple votes possible). Each requires active participation,which provides fairness and balance and allows for more optimal socialharmony among group members, better collaboration and more competitiveresponses increasing learning and retention.

Rules built within at least one embodiment allow groups to excludeindividual members from the group by having all group members vote toexclude this member. The excluded member will be anonymously reassignedto another group. This allows for another component of the Darwiniannatural selection, optimizing group interaction and collaborativeenvironment and increase the competitiveness of individual groups andincreasing learning and retention.

Scoreboard

In at least one embodiment, throughout the course, the performance ofindividuals, groups, and classrooms are tabulated by and broadcast by aschool scoreboard module 9. Rankings are visible by student, group,classroom, and school.

In at least one embodiment, the school scoreboard will be the firstscreen students see when logging-on to the program.

In at least one embodiment, the maximum number of groups and classrooms15 listed on the scoreboard may be 12. The twelve selected will bedetermined by voted rankings

To see the status of all groups in a school, sub-scoreboard screens willbe made available.

Posting on scoreboard 65 and mandating that all students view scoreboard65 each time they log in provides transparency into how each group andeach student is ranked among their peers. This provides an incentive tocompete more vigorously. This also deepens the collaborative andcompetitive nature of the program and creates a deeper understanding ofthe subject matter and better overall learning retention.

Positive Feedback Rewards

At least one embodiment provides for on-going feedback rewards anddisincentives in the form of:

a) Superior/good individual performer clothes, badges and other visualenhancements to a good-performing student's avatar. These enhancementscan be removed by poor performance in later challenges.

b) Superior/good performing groups will receive badges and other visualenhancements to its group avatar. These enhancements can be removed bypoor performance in later challenges.

c) Superior/good performing classrooms will receive badges and othervisual enhancements to its classroom avatar. These enhancements can beremoved by poor performance in later challenges.

This will provide transparency into how each student, each group andeach classroom is ranked among his/her/its peers. This provides anincentive to compete more vigorously. This also deepens thecollaborative and competitive nature of the program and creates a deeperunderstanding of the subject matter and better overall learningretention.

Educator Evaluations

Educator(s) responses to school consensus results will createtransparency for those charged with evaluating the competency ofeducators. This allows administrators to more predictably identify goodand poor performing educators, providing remedial support whereappropriate, and increasing the efficiency of the overall educationalsystems by reassigning or eliminating ineffective educators, increasingthe overall effectiveness of educational systems.

As a Testing Modality

At least one embodiment can be used as a testing media using liveinteractivity and competition among students to more accurately evaluateon-demand functioning knowledge and to better evaluate a student'sfuture learning capability. This could allow education systems better toselect students over current standardized testing methods for scholasticprogram entrance, will increase the competitiveness of the educationprocess and create better performing working peoples and a morefunctional society.

Fully Automated or Controlled Learning Environments

In at least one embodiment, once a course is set up by the educator(s),it can be run with as little or as much participation by the educator asdeemed appropriate by the educator and administrator(s). Once a courseis optimized, it can be fully automated allowing fewer educators toprovide quality education to more students.

This will increase the productivity and decrease the costs ofadministering education programs and educational systems.

After a single wave of such process(es) is complete and a schoolconsensus is derived through the competitive and collaborativeprocesses, educator(s) will have the opportunity to respond to thisresult or slate of results. This allows the educator directly to addressthe students' needs rather than giving a pre-conceived lecture. Theeducator can focus directly on areas where the participants' deficitslie and spend less time on areas where comprehension exists. Thisincreases the effectiveness of the teaching process and better utilizeslimited student-to-educator interaction. This also allows educators tocraft subsequent challenges to best meet the needs of the participatingstudents. As a result, these embodiments drive critical thinking andcreativity, creating thoughtful and diverse short answer results leadingto more comprehensive learning, better learning retention and a morewell-rounded understanding of the subject matter, which produces abetter platform from which to use the educational subject matter intheir lives.

Educators will not only have access to the consensus results; they willhave access to results of the process leading up to each group and eachclassroom consensus process for reaching these results. This will havemultiple advantages, such as: a) It allows educators to identify bothhigh and low performing students, b) It provides the educator a betterunderstanding of what areas of the subject matter the students lackcomprehension allowing targeted remedial support, c) It also allows theeducator the opportunity to “spike” programs with especially engagingshort answer responses to spur both high and low performing studentstoward the most meaningful directions. These “spiked” responses can beinvented by the educator, or can be recycled using short answerresponses from past programs.

At least one embodiment allows educators the wide variety of options;from fully walk away-automated program to being highly involved eachstep along the way by acting as “phantom students” in some or allgroups. This gives the educator(s) the opportunity of crafting a highlyinteractive and cohesive educational discussion targeted at individualstudents and impacting all participants. This in turn drives criticalthinking and creativity, creating thoughtful and diverse short answerresults leading to more comprehensive learning, better learningretention and a more well-rounded student understanding of the subjectmatter, and therefore a better platform from which to use theeducational subject matter in their lives.

Example Challenge(s)

Referring to FIG. 7, one illustrative example of a method in at leastone embodiment includes one or more of requiring students to read achapter of physics regarding principles of light 77 and thenbroadcasting a challenge that asks students to write short text answers81 to the question “what is light?” 79. As seen, each student 73 in agroup A-I determines an individual answer 81 that forms the basis ofmultiple collaborative group consensuses 83. Based on voting betweenmultiple group answers, multiple classroom consensuses 85 are formed,and a school consensus 87 is determined based on majority vote among thethree classrooms 85.

Another illustrative example disclosure is described using FIGS. 10 to14B. FIG.10 illustrates a hierarchy of a plurality of students within aschool. School 1001 comprises three classrooms, namely Classroom-A 1011,Classroom-B 1012 and Classroom C 1013. Each classroom comprises threegroups. For example, Classroom A 1011 comprises a Group-a 1021, a Group1022 and a Group-c 1023. Each group comprises four students. Forexample, Group-a 1021 comprises a Student a-1, a Student a-2, a Studenta-3 and a Student a-4. Namely, each classroom comprises twelve studentsand the school comprises thirty six students. Meanwhile it is merely oneexample that the school comprises three classrooms, each classroomcomprises three groups and each group comprises four students, and noembodiment is limited to this example.

Next, using the flowchart of FIG.11, the behavior of this workingexample is explained. Firstly, an educator device set provides a commonchallenge to all student device sets. Namely, question datacorresponding to the common challenge is submitted from a device set ofthe educator to device sets of all students (Step S2001).

Next, each of student inputs an answer responding to the question onhis/her device set within a limited time (Step S2002).

Next, within each group, the answer data of each student device set aredistributed to all students within the same group to which a particulardevice set belongs. From this, all students within the group can shareanswers with all students within the same group to which they belong.(Step S2003).

Next, each student makes a final answer by revising his/her own answerwith reference to answers of all other students in the same group,displayed on his/her own device set, within a limited time (Step S2004).

Within each group, a final answer of each student is distributed to allstudent device sets in the group. From this, all students share finalanswers of all students within the same group to which they belong. Eachstudent votes for a final answer that he or she considers appropriate asrepresenting his/her group by recommendation within a limited time. Whenvoting, for example, an above mentioned ranking selector may be used.

FIG. 12 illustrates one example of a voting result. The final answerwhose sum of ranking voted from all students is smallest is selected asa group answer (Step S2005).

Next, within a classroom, each group answer is distributed to allstudents of all groups. From this, all groups within the classroom shareanswers of all groups within the same classroom to which those groupsbelong (Step S2006).

Next, within the classroom, voting for all group answers is performed byrecommendation with a view to whether or not each group answer isappropriate as representing the classroom within a limited time.Consequently, a classroom answer is selected (Step S2007).

When voting, as illustrated in FIG. 13A, each of all the students mayvote for the group answer that he or she considers as representing theclassroom by recommendation and the group answer whose sum of votingranking is the smallest may be selected as a classroom consensus answer.

Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 13B, each group may make a rankingof all group answers and, by tallying such rankings by all groups, thegroup answer whose sum of voting ranking from all groups is smallest maybe selected as a classroom consensus answer.

In this case, when deciding the ranking by each group, in a similar wayto FIG. 12, each student in a group may cast a vote regarding all groupanswers, and thereby, voting ranking by the group may be decided. Usingthe example of FIG. 13C, the sum of rankings of Group-b answer is 4 andthe sum of rankings of Group-c answer is 2. (Because of recommendation,Group-a answer has no ranking) From this, voting ranking by Group-a issuch that the Group-c answer is first and the Group-b answer is second.

Next, within a school, each classroom answer is distributed to allstudent device sets of all groups of all classrooms. From this, allclassrooms share all classroom answers within the school (Step S2008).

Next, within the school, voting for all classroom answers is performedby recommendation with a view to whether or not each classroom answer isappropriate for representing the school within a limited time.Consequently, a school consensus answer is selected (Step S2009).

When voting, as illustrated in FIG. 14A, each of all the students mayvote for the classroom answer that he or she considers as representingthe school and the classroom answer whose sum of voting ranking issmallest may be selected as a school consensus answer.

Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 14B, each classroom may make aranking of all classroom answers and, by tallying such rankings by allclassrooms, the school consensus answer whose sum of voting rankingsfrom all classrooms is smallest may be selected as a school consensusanswer.

In this case, when deciding the ranking by each classroom, a similar wayto FIG. 13A may be used, or a similar way to FIG. 13B may be used.Namely, as illustrated in FIG. 13A, all students in a classroom may makea ranking of all classroom answers and, by tallying such rankings fromall students, the ranking by the classroom may be decided.Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 13B, each group in the classroommay make a ranking of all classroom answers and, by one or more devicesin the system tallying such rankings from all groups, the ranking by theclassroom may be decided.

Finally, an educator comments on the school consensus answer (StepS2010).

Meanwhile, as mentioned above, in the Steps S2005, S2007 and S2009, theanswer whose sum of voting ranking is smallest is simply selected as agroup answer, a classroom answer or a school consensus answer.Alternatively, after voting for all answers, a final vote between thetop and second answers may be performed and thereby the group answer,the classroom answer or the school consensus answer may be selected.

Alternatively, instead of ranking, an evaluation value may be requestedand received and thereby the answer whose sum of evaluation value islargest may be selected as a group answer, a classroom answer or aschool consensus answer. In this case, the evaluation values which eachstudent, each group, or each classroom votes between answers may be thesame.

Furthermore, in the above mentioned working example, three steps ofdecision of an answer are described. According to the number of studentsin the school, by using only one step of a decision of an answer, thegroup answer may be regarded as a school consensus answer.Alternatively, by using two steps of a decision of an answer, theclassroom answer may be regarded as a school consensus answer. Further,it is possible to extend the example as explained above to anarchitecture having four or more hierarchies.

System and Digital Communications Network Hardware

Another aspect of the disclosure is a computer system. Referring to FIG.8 and according to at least one embodiment, the techniques describedherein are implemented by one or more special-purpose computing devices.The special-purpose computing devices may be hard-wired to perform thetechniques, or may include digital electronic devices such as one ormore application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs) that are persistently programmed toperform the techniques, or may include one or more general purposehardware processors programmed to perform the techniques pursuant toprogram instructions in firmware, memory, other storage, or acombination. Such special-purpose computing devices may also combinecustom hard-wired logic, ASICs, or FPGAs with custom programming toaccomplish the techniques. The special-purpose computing devices may bedesktop computer systems, portable computer systems, handheld devices,networking devices or any other device that incorporates hard-wiredand/or program logic to implement the techniques.

For example, FIG. 8 is a block diagram that illustrates a computersystem 500 upon which an embodiment may be implemented. Computer system500 includes a bus 502 or other communication mechanism forcommunicating information, and a hardware processor 504 coupled with bus502 for processing information. Hardware processor 504 may be, forexample, a general purpose microprocessor.

Computer system 500 also includes a main memory 506, such as a randomaccess memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus 502for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor504. Main memory 506 also may be used for storing temporary variables orother intermediate information during execution of instructions to beexecuted by processor 504. Such instructions, when stored innon-transitory storage media accessible to processor 504, rendercomputer system 500 into a special-purpose machine that is customized toperform the operations specified in the instructions.

Computer system 500 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 508 orother static storage device coupled to bus 502 for storing staticinformation and instructions for processor 504. A storage device 510,such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus502 for storing information and instructions.

Computer system 500 may be coupled via bus 502 to a display 512, such asa cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user.An input device 514, including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupledto bus 502 for communicating information and command selections toprocessor 504. Another type of user input device is cursor control 516,such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicatingdirection information and command selections to processor 504 and forcontrolling cursor movement on display 512. This input device typicallyhas two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and asecond axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in aplane.

Computer system 500 may implement the techniques described herein usingcustomized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and/orprogram logic which in combination with the computer system causes orprograms computer system 500 to be a special-purpose machine. Accordingto at least one embodiment, the techniques herein are performed bycomputer system 500 in response to processor 504 executing one or moresequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 506. Suchinstructions may be read into main memory 506 from another storagemedium, such as storage device 510. Execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in main memory 506 causes processor 504 toperform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments,hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination withsoftware instructions.

The term “storage media” as used herein refers to any non-transitorymedia that store data and/or instructions that cause a machine tooperate in a specific fashion. Such storage media may comprisenon-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media includes,for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 510.Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 506. Commonforms of storage media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexibledisk, hard disk, solid state drive, magnetic tape, or any other magneticdata storage medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical data storage medium,any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, aFLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip or cartridge. Storage media isdistinct from but may be used in conjunction with transmission media.Transmission media participates in transferring information betweenstorage media. For example, transmission media includes coaxial cables,copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 502.Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves,such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red datacommunications.

Various forms of media may be involved in carrying one or more sequencesof one or more instructions to processor 504 for execution. For example,the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk or solidstate drive of a remote computer. The remote computer can load theinstructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over atelephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 500 canreceive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitterto convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector canreceive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriatecircuitry can place the data on bus 502. Bus 502 carries the data tomain memory 506, from which processor 504 retrieves and executes theinstructions. The instructions received by main memory 506 mayoptionally be stored on storage device 510 either before or afterexecution by processor 504.

Computer system 500 also includes a communication interface 518 coupledto bus 502. Communication interface 518 provides a two-way datacommunication coupling to a network link 520 that is connected to alocal network 522. For example, communication interface 518 may be anintegrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellitemodem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to acorresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communicationinterface 518 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a datacommunication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also beimplemented. In at least one such implementation, communicationinterface 518 sends and receives one or more of electrical,electromagnetic and optical signals (as with all uses of “one or more”herein implicitly including any combination of one or more of these)that carry digital data streams representing various types ofinformation.

Network link 520 typically provides data communication through one ormore networks to other data devices. For example, network link 520 mayprovide a connection through local network 522 to a host computer 524 orto data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 526.ISP 526 in turn provides data communication services through the worldwide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the“Internet” 528. Local network 522 and Internet 528 both use electrical,electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams.

The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link520 and through communication interface 518, which carry the digitaldata to and from computer system 500, are example forms of transmissionmedia.

Computer system 500 can send messages and receive data, includingprogram code, through the network(s), network link 520 and communicationinterface 518. In at least one embodiment of the Internet example, aserver 530 might transmit a requested code for an application programthrough the Internet 528, ISP 526, local network 522 and communicationinterface 518.

In at least one embodiment, the received code may be one or more ofexecuted by processor 504 as it is received, and/or stored in storagedevice 510, or other non-volatile storage for later execution.

Now referring to FIG. 9, in at least one embodiment a device used inaccordance with this disclosure is or comprises mobile display or touchscreen input smart phone or tablet 535, which is shown displaying directuser-to-device input message text and or image(s), or remotely receivedmessage text and/or image(s) 540.

Computer-Readable Medium

Another aspect of the disclosure is one or more computer-readable mediahaving a program, which when executed by one or more processors causesthe one or more processors to enable, allow or cause devices to performany one of the methods as variously comprising any one or more of itsvarious embodiments or sub-embodiments described above.

In at least one embodiment, the one or more computer-readable media arenon-transitory media such as, but not limited to HDD and SSD diskdrives, thumb and other flash drives, DVDs, CDs, various static anddynamic storage devices and other numerous storage media.

In at least one embodiment, the one or more computer-readable mediacomprise or are one or more transitory electronic signals.

The following numbered clauses set forth various embodiments of thedisclosure:

[1] A mobile or stationary terminal for use in presenting educationalinformation, the mobile or stationary terminal comprising:

a software component (5) arranged to collect answer data, collaborationdata, and selection data relating to the mobile or stationary terminal;

transceiving means (518) arranged to receive question data, to transmitthe collected answer data to at least one first terminal (202) remotefrom the mobile or stationary terminal, and to receive answer data fromthe first remote terminal (202) responsive to identical question data asthe received question data, and collaborative data from the first remoteterminal (202); and

one or more of a store arranged to store and a display/speaker arrangedto present the question data and responsive answer data;

wherein the mobile or stationary terminal is arranged to display answerdata from the remote terminal (202) in accordance with whether theremote terminal is assigned to a same predetermined first-tier group inan answer data driven device hierarchy, as the mobile or stationaryterminal;

the transceiving means (518) arranged to receive collaborative answerdata from a second remote terminal (205) responsive to identicalquestion data as the received question data; and

wherein the mobile or stationary terminal is arranged to presentcollaborative answer data from the second remote terminal (205) inaccordance with whether the second remote terminal is assigned to a samepredetermined second-tier group in the answer driven device hierarchy,as the mobile or stationary terminal;

wherein collaborative answer data have been transmitted for presentationto the second remote terminal (205) in dependence upon the collectedcollaboration data and collaboration data from the remote terminal(202), both in dependence on the answer data collected by the softwarecomponent in the mobile or stationary terminal, and

the answer data received from the first remote terminal (202); and

the transceiving means (518) arranged to receive selection answer datafrom a third remote terminal (219) responsive to identical question dataas the received question data; and

wherein the mobile or stationary terminal is arranged to present answerdata from the third remote terminal (219) in accordance with whether thethird remote terminal is assigned to a same predetermined third-tiergroup in the answer driven device hierarchy, as the mobile or stationaryterminal;

wherein selection answer data have been transmitted for presentation tothe third remote terminal (219) in dependence upon the collectedselection data and selection data from the remote terminal (205).

[2] A mobile or stationary terminal according to any of the precedingclauses wherein selection answer data have been transmitted forpresentation to the third remote terminal (219) further in dependenceupon selection data from the first remote terminal (202), other remoteterminals in the same predetermined first-tier group as the mobile orstationary terminal, selection data from the second remote terminal(205), and other remote terminals in the same predetermined second-tiergroup as the mobile or stationary terminal.

[3] A mobile or stationary terminal according to any of the precedingclauses wherein collaboration answer data have been transmitted forpresentation to the second remote terminal (205) further in dependenceupon collaboration data from other remote terminals in the samepredetermined first-tier group as the mobile or stationary terminal.

[4] A computer-implemented method of facilitated collaborationcomprising:

electronically transmitting responsive data from at least one deviceset, each of the at least one devices configured to be organized into apredetermined group within an answer driven yet-to-be determined digitalcommunication device hierarchy structure and to represent one or moreindividual participants, the responsive data responsive to one or morechallenges posed by one or more educators with digital access to theyet-to-be determined digital communication device hierarchy structure,the responsive data being designated as one or more of a total number ofindividual first-tier responses for each predetermined groupcommunicated in a partially centralized, centralized or decentralized,digital communications exchange network comprised of a plurality ofdevices;

displaying or broadcasting one or more of the total number of individualfirst-tier responses on at least one of the plurality of devices in thecommunications exchange network in accordance with its predeterminedgroup if any; and

one or more of receiving from or transmitting to, one or more other ofthe plurality of devices in the exchange network, collaborativeindividual participant commentary data or revision data through thedigital communications exchange network to optimize the one or moreindividual first-tier responses in response to the one or morechallenges, the optimized first-tier responses being designated as oneor more of a total number of second-tier consensus answers to the one ormore challenges, the total number of the second-tier consensus answersbeing less than the total number of the individual first-tier responses.

[5] An educational computer system, comprising:

one or more processors to cause at least one device configured to,electronically transmit responsive data from at least one device set,each of the at least one devices configured to be organized into apredetermined group within an answer driven yet-to-be determined digitalcommunication device hierarchy structure and to represent one or moreindividual participants, the responsive data responsive to one or morechallenges posed by one or more educators with digital access to theyet-to-be determined digital communication device hierarchy structure,the responsive data being designated as one or more of a total number ofindividual first-tier responses for each predetermined groupcommunicated in a partially centralized, centralized or decentralized,digital communications exchange network comprised of a plurality ofdevices;

display or broadcast one or more of the total number of individualfirst-tier responses on at least one of the plurality of devices in thecommunications exchange network in accordance with its predeterminedgroup if any;

one or more of receive from or transmit to, one or more other of theplurality of devices in the exchange network, collaborative individualparticipant commentary data or revision data through the digitalcommunications exchange network to optimize the one or more individualfirst-tier responses in response to the one or more challenges, theoptimized first-tier responses being designated as one or more of atotal number of second-tier consensus answers to the one or morechallenges, the total number of the second-tier consensus answers beingless than the total number of the individual first-tier responses.

[6] A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing a program,which when executed by one or more computers each and/or collectivelycontaining one or more processors, causes the one or more processors tocause at least one device set to:

electronically transmit responsive data from the at least one deviceset, each of the at least one devices configured to be organized into apredetermined group within an answer driven yet-to-be determined digitalcommunication device hierarchy structure and to represent one or moreindividual participants, the responsive data responsive to one or morechallenges posed by one or more educators with digital access to theyet-to-be determined digital communication device hierarchy structure,the responsive data being designated as one or more of a total number ofindividual first-tier responses for each predetermined groupcommunicated in a partially centralized, centralized or decentralized,digital communications exchange network comprised of a plurality ofdevices;

display or broadcast one or more of the total number of individualfirst-tier responses on at least one of the plurality of devices in thecommunications exchange network in accordance with its predeterminedgroup if any;

one or more of receive from or transmit to, one or more other of theplurality of devices in the exchange network, collaborative individualparticipant commentary data or revision data through the digitalcommunications exchange network to optimize the one or more individualfirst-tier responses in response to the one or more challenges, theoptimized first-tier responses being designated as one or more of atotal number of second-tier consensus answers to the one or morechallenges, the total number of the second-tier consensus answers beingless than the total number of the individual first-tier responses.

[7] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to electronically transmit, vote datarepresentative of information selected or inputted from at least one ofthe one or more participants for a competitive determination of the bestof the one or more second tier consensus answers.

[8] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to perform one or more ofdetermining, receiving or broadcasting only one second-tier consensusanswer for each group and only one third-tier consensus answer for eachclassroom if any.

[9] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to be (1) ordered and reordered intoone of either educator devices or student devices, but not both aneducator and a student device at the same time, and (2) optionallywherein the student devices are configured to be grouped and regroupedwithin the communication hierarchy structure corresponding to apredetermined hierarchy structure path for each of the one or moreindividual participants and are optionally able to communicate only with(a) one or more predetermined educator devices in the plurality ofdevices, and (b) one or more student devices in the plurality of devicesassigned to one or more of a single group at a time, a single class at atime, and a single school at a time.

[10] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any combination of elements from any one of the features and featureelements disclosed herein.

[11] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to be able to broadcast data onlyfrom those devices within a device set within its group or individualdevices within its group before its assigned group's determined responseor answer is transmitted or presented at a device set in anotherassigned group.

[12] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to assign each submitted vote data toonly one of the one or more second-tier consensus answers.

[13] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to tabulate or calculate which of theone or more second-tier consensus answers is associated with vote datathe most number of times to arrive at a third-tier classroom answer.

[14] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to perform one or more of storing,receiving and transmitting digitally input responsive data answersresponsive to requests for an incrementally increasing number ofdigitally-represented characters that may be input for each subsequenttier student response, increased on each subsequent occasion optionallyby two times;

optionally wherein the challenge is displayed or broadcast to eachstudent on each of three separate occasions and at each subsequentoccasion at least one device set performs one or more of increasing arange of available data input time, decreasing data input time allowed,increasing numbers of allowed communication broadcasts to other devicesper individual, increasing numbers of allowed communication broadcaststo other devices per group, and increasing number of charactersavailable for each response.

[15] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to individually, and locally orremotely:

store educator directed short-answer competitive response datarepresentative of short answer responses to challenges one to three, andoptionally one to two, times per challenge prior to advancing totransmitting or presentation outside of one or more of its group andclassroom as the participants interact with a single set of challengedata or slate of challenge data within a single group, class or school,and

determine a single submitted response, optionally based on majority votedata of the participants, and optionally as between groups or as betweenclassrooms depending on a stage.

[16] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to receive one or more of commentarydata and vote data from an individual device set within one of multiplegroup-related text chat rooms, and transmit the same type of data to atleast one of the plurality of devices, each text chat room beingassigned to a different group, to determine a best short-answer responsefrom among multiple short-answer responses, each of the multipleshort-answer responses formulated by one individual student, optionallycollected on a ballot display, and

display a data input screen or enable an audio-input device to allow theparticipants to change a resulting group-determined short-answerresponse in a group text or verbal chat session through simple majorityvote of group members from one group in favor of changing the resultinggroup-determined short answer wherein when a majority vote is notreached, an original and shorter group consensus result will stand inthe competition to become a single classroom consensus result.

[17] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to display or broadcast at least oneoption to re-group students into different groupings between challenges,and

displays or broadcasts at least one option to select students forplacement in digitally managed and expressed groups in accordance withone or more of the educator's philosophy and educator-determinedappropriateness to specific educational content.

[18] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow educators automatically topre-determine an amount of time an educational course will take byinputting one or more amounts of time available to students for eachspecific step in a course prior to the start of the course, thusallowing a continuum of one or more options of designing courses thatrequire very rapid collaborative and competitive processes leading toconsensus results, or longer time scales allowing a more thoughtfulprocess.

[19] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow student collaboration duringstudents' interaction with the challenge by selectively opening a groupinternet chat room for a limited period of time giving students theopportunity of discussing and forming a consensus to change theiroriginally submitted group-consensus short answer, and

provide live text chat only one time, the timing of this singleopportunity being just prior to requesting and accepting final groupconsensus result for submission for voting to determine the classroomconsensus result, after the challenge has gone through collaborative andcompetitive processes on two occasions within the groups, when for thefirst time all groups can see the group consensus from other groupswherein a resultant answer is the last time for classrooms to win aninter-classroom group competition and a sole chance for their responseto represent their classroom in classroom run-off competitive heats,providing a possibility that their short answer response could win andbecome the school consensus result.

[20] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein the at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow educators to use defaultsettings to select optional parameters when setting up a course.

[21] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein the at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to prominently display or broadcastresults in a meaningful way on a school scoreboard that is automaticallyupdated throughout an educational process.

[22] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow an educator device set todesignate students within a group as anonymous.

[23] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to broadcast a personality test to atleast one of the participants prior to group placement and to place theparticipants in combinations to best assure their collaboration andcompetition.

[24] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to discontinue communication of datato or from a group, class or school when a device set group requests viainput data into one or more of the plurality of devices that a deviceset be removed from the group, class or school, optionally by all groupdevice sets, or a super majority of device sets transmit vote data toexclude the device set.

[25] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to determine elimination of one ormore device sets access to course program data if not actively receivingand transmitting data at specified times through one or more of notsubmitting an initial response or answer, not transmitting proposedoptimized or altered answer data in between stages, not transmittingvote data at any stage, and not indicating login onto a scheduled chatsession.

[26] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to broadcast to at least one educatoraccess to consensus results, and optionally access to a process leadingup to each group and each classroom consensus process for reaching theseresults, thereby allowing the educator to identify both high and lowperforming students, providing the educator a better understanding ofwhat areas of the subject matter the students lack comprehensionallowing targeted remedial support, allowing the educator theopportunity to insert into programs especially engaging short answerresponses to spur both high and low performing students toward the mostmeaningful directions, wherein these educator inserted responses arebased on one or more invented by the educator, or based on short answerresponses from past programs.

[27] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to cause, after a third-tierconsensus is determined, at least one of the devices to receive andcommunicate educator response data responsive to a result or slate ofresults, in particular information related to device set data qualityvia participant weakness and strength.

[28] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to collect and store educatorresponses to school consensus results in order to evaluate theeducator's own understanding of the subject matter and overallperformance as an educator.

[29] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow individual device sets to bereassigned to a different device set group without informing otherdevice set groups or other device sets in that device set's first groupthat a reassignment was made in accordance with request data from thatdevice set, to allow jumping from one group to another without penaltyand anonymously, no more than three times during a course.

[30] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to broadcast information, acting asone or more testing media using live interactivity and competition amongdevice sets to more accurately evaluate on-demand functionable knowledgeand better evaluate a student's immediate ability to interact creativelywith the learned subject matter in a dynamic fashion.

[31] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to, after a prescribed number ofchallenges have been addressed by all third-tier device set groups,disband groups and transmit or initiate execution of test dataadministration to individual device sets, to provide a stage of finalexamination where actual individual participant comprehension of subjectmatter is ascertained.

[32] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow an optimizing of device setgroups prior to beginning a program by providing an educator one or moreoptions to make random group placement, create equal dissemination ofgood performers throughout the groups, concentrate good performerstogether, add components of a personality test into group entranceexamination, and use algorithms such as provided by personality tests tooptimize group dynamics.

[33] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein groups are organized into aminimum number of three and maximum number of twelve per classroom.

[34] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein prior to device set groupassignment, the device set broadcasts educator defined subject matterdata and device set group entrance examine data, whereby studentsentering a group are required to study educator defined content and passan entrance examination prior to being assigned to a group.

[35] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein a sequential number ofchallenges posed by the one or more educators is first received by allindividual device sets populating all groups in a school.

[36] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein each device set broadcasts arequest to input short answer text-based response data, whereby astudent participant is required to submit a short answer in response toeach challenge.

[37] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein challenge data is broadcastas a single question or in batches of up to five questions per challengeslate.

[38] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at a time pre-defined by theeducator, all device set input short-answer data are transmitted forpresentation at every device set after being received, by virtue ofbroadcast sharing among all device sets in each device set group.

[39] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein after presenting otherdevice set input short answer data at each tier, each device set in adevice set group allows for input of data to change that device setanswer one time before final submission and distribution.

[40] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to, after final response datareception, allow or prompt all device sets within a group to receive orinitiate receiving of vote data to determine what single short-answerwill represent the device set group as its group consensus result(s).

[41] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at a time pre-defined byeducator device set preference(s), all device set group consensusresults are broadcast to all device set groups within a device setclassroom, after which all individual device set group Internetchat-rooms are opened for a pre-defined period of time.

[42] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow or prompt the device setgroups to change their group-consensus result a second time only in thecase that a simple majority of device set group device sets transmitvote data to do so.

[43] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein device sets provide livetext chat only one time and the timing of this single opportunity isjust prior to submission of a final classroom consensus result.

[44] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein device sets provide text oraudio chat after a challenge has gone through a collaborative andcompetitive process on two occasions within the device set groups, andfor the first time all device set groups present at least one set ofconsensus data from other device set groups available for viewing byvirtue of broadcast sharing.

[45] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to broadcast new information, alongwith a prompt to once again input double a number of responsecharacters.

[46] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein device sets further presentan input prompt to obtain a single further set of persuasion datafurther as to what is the best short answer result to represent a deviceset group and ultimately a device set classroom.

[47] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein resultant classroom answerdata represents the last time for device set classrooms to win aninter-classroom competition and a single chance for the classroom'sshort answer response data to represent the device set classroom in atleast one classroom run-off competitive heat, and optionally to bedetermined as school consensus result data.

[48] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein each device set groupinternet chat room is password protected and contains a voting toolallowing participants to input vote data representing what short answerdata has the best chance of winning one or more of present and futurecompetitions in the answer-driven hierarchy.

[49] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein classroom-consensus resultsdata are assigned vote data from all device sets that provide such data,optionally in the case of a large number of classrooms such vote dataderived from a competitive heat format, which matches a minimum of threeand maximum of twelve classroom consensus result data sets at a time,until a single school-consensus result data set is determined.

[50] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at each stage of competitiveheats all device sets broadcast requirement data that forcesparticipants again to interact with diverse sets of short answer resultdata.

[51] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein in the case of fewer than144 participating students the classroom-consensus result data isdesignated school-consensus result data.

[52] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein when all challenges or slateof challenges are completed and all classroom and/or school consensusresults are finalized, all groups are disbanded and students are testedindividually.

[53] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein a device set allows input ofan educator-set number of available characters to limit independentstudent work when creating first short answer response data responsiveto the educator directed challenge, the available characters optionallyautomatically doubling in a second stage, and automatically doublingagain in a third stage.

[54] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein the number of charactersallotted by device set display for receiving the first short answerresponse data responsive to a challenge is limited according to defaultor educator input preference data, forcing the student to criticallyanalyze and focus the response.

[55] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein a maximum number ofcharacters allotted for the third short answer data responsive to theeducator directed challenge data is doubled from the second stage, afterdevice sets broadcast and receive data via a text based internetchat-room discussion to determine a best answer, optionally after thechallenge data has been broadcast or been a subject of user inputthrough a collaborative and competitive process on two occasions withindevice set groups, and optionally for the first time only after alldevice set groups are able to see group consensus data from other deviceset groups.

[56] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein each device set group maycollectively submit a single vote data representative of a selection forone set of modified or unmodified answer or response data, which isdetermined by majority vote data from member device sets within a deviceset group, and each device set classroom may collectively submit asingle vote data representative of a selection for one set of modifiedor unmodified answer or response data as determined by tabulating totalnumber of the device set group vote data designating each answer orresponse.

[57] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein no individual device set,device set group or device set classroom accepts vote data designatingan answer or response first input into that device set, first determinedsolely from that device set classroom's data.

[58] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein a first competition data isrequested as between data submissions from within a predetermined deviceset group, which is composed of from three to twelve device sets, whichprovide participants opportunity to review short-answer response dataresponsive to educator directed challenges, the short answer responsedata have been created by all students in a device set group and provideopportunity to change device set-transmitted answers one time prior tofinal submission of individual device set response data to the deviceset group for voting.

[59] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein an initial group consensusresponse result is available for review by all other device set groupswithin a device set classroom,

upon reviewing short answer initial device set group consensus responseresult data from all device set groups, each device set group's on-linechat room is opened for an educator directed period of time,

within each group's on-line chat room, students within each group areallowed to interact and modify their initial group-consensus responseresult,

changing group consensus result requires majority vote from votingstudents in an individual group such that a resulting new short answerbecomes a revised group-consensus result, and

students perform live text chat only one time and the timing of thissingle opportunity being just prior to submission of the final classroomconsensus result.

[60] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein revised group-consensusresults from each group are compared with revised group consensusresults from all other groups in a classroom, each group has a singlevote based on simple majority vote of members within the group todetermine a winning short answer, the winning short answer resultbecomes the classroom consensus result.

[61] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein classroom-consensus resultsare competitively compared with one another in competitive heats todetermine a single school consensus result, and optionally,

the size of each heat is a minimum of three and a maximum of twelveclassroom consensus results,

each classroom has a single vote based on votes submitted by each group,classroom vote responses are determined by tabulating one vote from eachgroup,

group results are tabulated using one vote per student, and all studentsare required vote at each competitive heat stage.

[62] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein a number of charactersavailable for each response is doubled at each of three stages ofincreased student collaboration with no further input necessary by theeducator.

[63] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein all ballots areautomatically digitally counted, automatically digitally tabulated andautomatically digitally included in group ballots at each stage of ashort-answer consensus process and presented on a digital scoreboard.

[64] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein all voting results areautomatically tabulated and sent for presentation on a schoolscoreboard.

[65] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein only group members withvalid user names and passwords specific to a predetermined group areallowed to vote on the group's ballot.

[66] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein each student in a group islimited to a single vote per single short-answer response.

[67] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein no group member can vote forhim/her/itself in a first round of voting after reviewing results fromother group members.

[68] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein no group member can vote forhim/her/itself or another group member belonging to the same group asthe group member when a ballot comprises group-consensus results todetermine a classroom-consensus result.

[69] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein no group member can vote forhim/her/itself, or for another group member or classroom to which thegroup member belongs when in competition between classrooms to determinea school-consensus result.

[70] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein each student can vote onlyonce per voting opportunity and cannot change a vote once submitted.

[71] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein an educator is allowed theoption of automatically keeping all student groupings the samein-between challenges.

[72] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow the educator the option ofautomatically randomly reshuffling students between challenges.

[73] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow the educator the option ofautomatically re-arranging students whereby the best performingstudents, and low performing students are grouped together.

[74] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow the educator the option ofautomatically distributing the best performing students evenlythroughout all groups. This allows for educator experimentation to tryand optimize student grouping for the better learning environment.

[75] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to relay specific time dependentgates for responding to education directed challenges, including inputand submission of one or more of a) group entrance examination data, b)registering the individual student specific short answer data, c)registering the individual students short-answers change after reviewingthe responses from other students within their groups, d) changing ofshort-answers after reviewing results from all groups in theirclassroom, and participating in the group text chat-room, and e) finalexamination data after groups are dissolved.

[76] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to store data indicating thatstudents do not perform required tasks within the time constraints setby the educator automatically.

[77] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to not accept input from a studentafter one or more educator directed deadline(s) expire(s).

[78] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow students to vote only duringpredetermined automatically selected time parameters, optionallyincluding one or more of, voting for the group consensus result, votingfor the classroom consensus result and inputting a series of votes fordetermining the school consensus result.

[79] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to designate a group Internetchat-room specific to each group such that students from other groupswill not be allowed to interact within a group internet chat-room towhich they are not assigned.

[80] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to display or broadcast an open groupinternet chat-room for a limited period of time as determined by theeducator after the initial group consensus result has been determinedand the short answer results have been shared from all groups in aclassroom.

[81] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow the group internet chat-roomto be closed after all votes are submitted by all group members or whenthe allotted time elapses.

[82] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to implement a default setting suchthat after three rule violation data indication are determined relatedto any single student in the course, that student will be eliminatedfrom a school, or re-assigned to a universal content sink and initialentrance examination.

[83] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow default settings wherein allstudents/device set users in all groups remain anonymous and are onlymade known by their assigned group names.

[84] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to display or broadcast a schoolscoreboard automatically each time a device set indicates student login.

[85] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to not distribute or broadcastrequest data to have a device set removed from a device set group to anyother device set, to keep this secret from other students and toprohibit students from feeling pressure to gang up on a particularstudent.

[86] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to indicate new name data associatedwith a device set earlier rejected by a device set group or device setclassroom, wherein the name data are automatically replaced by new namedata prior to re-assignment and device set interaction as part ofanother device set group, to protect against discrimination against aparticular student so that a student earlier rejected by a group orclassroom automatically receives a new name changed prior tore-assignment to another group.

[87] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to indicate expulsion of a device setfrom a course if the device set is rejected by three different groups.

[88] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to designate as strikes one or moreof a device set not transmitting a) short answer response data within atime allotted, b) vote data within a time allotted, and c) login dataprior to its device set group Internet chat-room within a time allotted.

[89] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to allow an educator device set toinitiate automatic device set communication interruption as between thedevice set and an assigned device set group, or an assigned device setclassroom or device set school; and/or to re-assign the device set to agroup qualification examination module for re-qualification andre-assignment to a device set group.

[90] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein device set membership in afirst-tier group is based on each device set in a first-tier grouphaving at least one characteristic common to other device sets in thefirst-tier group set, the at least one character being based on a userdata profile associated with each device set.

[91] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to display side-by-side answer dataspaces, at least one space for each device set, each answer data spaceconfigured sequentially to contain answer data and then collaborationanswer data from one corresponding assigned device set, the answer datadisplayed from one time to another time changing based on updatesderived from revisions to that device set's answer from that device set.

[92] The method, terminal, system or computer-readable medium accordingto any one of the preceding clauses wherein at least one of theplurality of devices is configured to display at least one distinct andseparate dialog data input field for displaying and receiving dialogcomprising one or more of comment, question, clarification, suggestion,and explanation to improve answer and collaborative answer data in atleast one answer data space, each of the at least one answer data spacesbeing assigned to display data from one device set in a session, thedialog data input field being adjacent to, and separate and distinctfrom, the at least one answer data input field.

[93] A terminal, method, system or computer-readable medium for anadvanced digital communications network according to any one of thepreceding clauses, comprising:

a software module arranged to collect answer data, collaboration data,and selection data relating to the terminal;

transceiving module arranged to receive question data, to transmit thecollected answer data to at least one first terminal remote from theterminal, and to receive answer data from the at least one first remoteterminal responsive to identical question data as the received questiondata, and to receive collaborative data from the first remote terminal;

one or more of a store arranged to store and a display or display modulearranged to display the question data and responsive answer data;

display module arranged to display answer data from the at least onefirst remote terminal in accordance with whether the at least one firstremote terminal is assigned to a same predetermined first-tier group inan answer data driven device hierarchy as the terminal;

transceiving module arranged to receive collaborative answer data from asecond remote terminal responsive to identical question data as thereceived question data; and

display module arranged to display the collaborative answer data fromthe second remote terminal in accordance with whether the second remoteterminal is assigned to a same predetermined second-tier group as theterminal in the answer driven device hierarchy, collaborative answerdata having been transmitted for presentation to the second remoteterminal in dependence upon the collected collaboration data andcollaboration data from the at least one first remote terminal, both independence on the answer data collected by the software component in theterminal and on the answer data received from the first remote terminal;

transceiving module arranged to receive selection answer data from athird remote terminal responsive to identical question data as thereceived question data; and

display module arranged to display answer data from the third remoteterminal in accordance with whether the third remote terminal isassigned to a same predetermined third-tier group as the terminal in theanswer driven device hierarchy, selection answer data having beentransmitted for presentation to the third remote terminal in dependenceupon the collected selection data and selection data from the secondremote terminal.

[94] A terminal, method, system or computer-readable medium for anadvanced digital communications network according to any one of thepreceding clauses, comprising:

any one or more of

(1) determining a group of terminals or device sets to send data to orreceive data from in accordance with what single device set or group ofdevice sets also in the terminal's same group, class or school arenearest to the terminal, or in accordance with what device set is activeby virtue of being logged on in the same jurisdiction, such determiningby retrieving one of more device set IP address and calculating whatdevice set is closer according to stored IP addresses in a system storein one or more of a system server and one or more device sets;

(2) determining one or more digital communication pathways based on theselection data for a predetermined set of terminals or device sets; and

(3) directly sending the selection data from the terminal from which theselection data originally came to the one or more determined digitalcommunication pathways.

While it is apparent that the illustrative embodiments of the disclosureherein fulfill one or more objectives or inventive solutions, it isappreciated that numerous modifications and other embodiments may bedevised by those skilled in the art. Additionally, feature(s) and/orelement(s) from any embodiment may be used singly or in combination withother embodiment(s). Therefore, it will be understood that the appendedclaims are intended to cover all such modifications and embodiments thatwould come within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

The above embodiments are to be understood as illustrative examples ofthe disclosure. Further embodiments of the disclosure are envisaged. Itis to be understood that any feature described in relation to any oneembodiment may be used alone, or in combination with other featuresdescribed, and may also be used in combination with one or more featuresof any other of the embodiments, or any combination of any other of theembodiments. Furthermore, equivalents and modifications not describedabove may also be employed without departing from the scope of thedisclosure, which is defined in the accompanying claims.

1. A method for facilitating the creation of an advanced digitalcommunications network by collaborative interaction among users atcomputer interfaces, the method comprising, at a terminal in a digitalcommunications network: receiving question data; collecting answer data,collaboration data, and selection data relating to the terminal;transmitting the collected answer data to at least one first remoteterminal; receiving answer data from the at least one first remoteterminal responsive to identical question data as the received questiondata; receiving collaborative data from the first remote terminal; oneor more of storing and displaying the question data and responsiveanswer data; displaying answer data from the at least one first remoteterminal in accordance with whether the at least one first remoteterminal is assigned to a same predetermined first-tier group as theterminal in a one or more of an answer data-driven and collaborationdata-driven terminal hierarchy; receiving collaborative answer data froma second remote terminal responsive to identical question data as thereceived question data; displaying the collaborative answer data fromthe second remote terminal in accordance with whether the second remoteterminal is assigned to a same predetermined second-tier group as theterminal in the answer driven device hierarchy, collaborative answerdata having been transmitted for presentation to the second remoteterminal in dependence upon the collected collaboration data andcollaboration data from the at least one first remote terminal, both independence on the answer data collected by the software component in theterminal and on the answer data received from the first remote terminal;receiving selection answer data from a third remote terminal responsiveto identical question data as the received question data; and displayinganswer data from the third remote terminal in accordance with whetherthe third remote terminal is assigned to a same predetermined third-tiergroup as the terminal in the answer driven device hierarchy, selectionanswer data having been transmitted for presentation to the third remoteterminal in dependence upon the collected selection data and selectiondata from the second remote terminal.
 2. A method according to claim 1,comprising: incrementally increasing, in relation to each subsequenttier, a number of digitally-represented characters that may be input asdata for collection by the terminal.
 3. A method according to any ofclaims 1-2, wherein the question data is displayed on each of threeseparate occasions and at each subsequent occasion the method comprisesperforming one or more of: increasing a range of available data inputtime; decreasing data input time allowed; increasing a number of allowedtransmissions to other terminals per user of the terminal; increasing anumber of allowed transmissions to other terminals per group; andincreasing a number of characters available for inputting data to becollected.
 4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, comprising:performing one or more of determining, receiving or broadcasting onlyone second-tier answer for each second-tier group and only onethird-tier answer data for each third-tier group.
 5. A method accordingto any of claims 1-4, comprising: allowing one or more entities in thecommunications network to designate a user associated with a terminalwithin a given group as anonymous.
 6. A method according to any ofclaims 1-5, comprising: transmitting answer data for presentation at allterminals participating in the collaboration at a time pre-defined byone or more entities in the communications network, by virtue ofbroadcast sharing among all terminals in each group.
 7. A methodaccording to any of claims 1-6, comprising: after displaying data fromother terminals at each tier, allowing for the input of data to changecollected data only one time before transmission.
 8. A method accordingto any of claims 1-7, wherein one or more entities in the communicationsnetwork broadcasts given test data prior to group assignment, wherebyterminals are assigned to groups based at least in part on test resultsrelating to the given test data.
 9. A method according to any of claims1-8, comprising: inhibiting further user input in relation to thecollaboration after one or more deadlines dictated by one or moreentities in the communications network expires.
 10. A method accordingto any of claims 1-9, wherein the communications network comprises oneor more of a partially centralized digital communications exchangenetwork comprising a plurality of terminals, a centralized digitalcommunications exchange network comprising a plurality of terminals, anda decentralized digital communications exchange network comprising aplurality of terminals.
 11. A method according to any of claims 1-10,wherein one or more entities in the communications network determinesone or more amounts of time available for each tier of the collaborationprior to the start of the collaboration.
 12. A method according to anyof claims 1-11, comprising: discontinuing communication of data to orfrom a given terminal in a given group in response to a request beingmade that the given terminal be removed from the given group.
 13. Amethod according to any of claims 1-12, wherein selection answer datahave been transmitted for presentation to the third remote terminalfurther in dependence upon selection data from the first remoteterminal, other remote terminals in the same predetermined first-tiergroup as the terminal, selection data from the second remote terminal,and other remote terminals in the same predetermined second-tier groupas the terminal.
 14. A method according to any of claims 1-13, whereincollaboration answer data have been transmitted for presentation to thesecond remote terminal further in dependence upon collaboration datafrom other remote terminals in the same predetermined first-tier groupas the terminal.
 15. A method according to any of claims 1-14,comprising: transmitting data representative of information selected orinputted via an input device to facilitate the making of a competitivedetermination of a best second-tier collaborative answer.
 16. A methodaccording to any of claims 1-15, comprising: tabulating or calculatingwhich of one or more second-tier collaborative answers is associatedwith vote data the most number of times to arrive at the third-tierselection answer.
 17. A method according to any of claims 1-16,comprising: after final response data reception, allowing or promptingall terminals within a group to receive or initiate receiving of votedata to determine what single answer will represent the group as itsgroup consensus results.
 18. A method according to any of claims 1-17,comprising: transmitting answer data to at least one terminal assignedto a different predetermined first-tier group as the terminal.
 19. Amethod according to any of claims 1-18, wherein answer data ascends theanswer driven device hierarchy based on being displayed on increasinglygreater numbers of terminals for each subsequent tier.
 20. A methodaccording to any of claims 1-19, wherein the terminal is configured tobe able to broadcast data only from terminals assigned to the same groupas the terminal before a response or answer determined by the group istransmitted to or presented at a terminal in a different assigned group.21. A terminal for an advanced digital communications network, theterminal comprising: a software component arranged to collect answerdata, collaboration data, and selection data relating to the terminal;transceiving means arranged to receive question data, to transmit thecollected answer data to at least one first terminal remote from theterminal, and to receive answer data from the at least one first remoteterminal responsive to identical question data as the received questiondata, and to receive collaborative data from the first remote terminal;one or more of a store arranged to store and a display means arranged todisplay the question data and responsive answer data; display meansarranged to display answer data from the at least one first remoteterminal in accordance with whether the at least one first remoteterminal is assigned to a same predetermined first-tier group in ananswer data driven device hierarchy as the terminal; transceiving meansarranged to receive collaborative answer data from a second remoteterminal responsive to identical question data as the received questiondata; and display means arranged to display the collaborative answerdata from the second remote terminal in accordance with whether thesecond remote terminal is assigned to a same predetermined second-tiergroup as the terminal in the answer driven device hierarchy,collaborative answer data having been transmitted for presentation tothe second remote terminal in dependence upon the collectedcollaboration data and collaboration data from the at least one firstremote terminal, both in dependence on the answer data collected by thesoftware component in the terminal and on the answer data received fromthe first remote terminal; transceiving means arranged to receiveselection answer data from a third remote terminal responsive toidentical question data as the received question data; and display meansarranged to display answer data from the third remote terminal inaccordance with whether the third remote terminal is assigned to a samepredetermined third-tier group as the terminal in the answer drivendevice hierarchy, selection answer data having been transmitted forpresentation to the third remote terminal in dependence upon thecollected selection data and selection data from the second remoteterminal.
 22. An advanced digital communications network system,comprising: one or more digital processors configured to executeinstructions in at least one device set of a plurality of device sets,causing the at least one device set to: electronically transmitresponsive data from the at least one device set, each of the at leastone device sets configured to be organized into a predetermined groupwithin an answer driven yet-to-be determined digital communicationdevice hierarchy structure and to represent one or more individualparticipants, the responsive data responsive to one or more challengesposed by one or more entities with digital access to the yet-to-bedetermined digital communication device hierarchy structure, theresponsive data being designated as one or more of a total number ofindividual first-tier responses for each predetermined groupcommunicated in a partially centralized, centralized or decentralized,digital communications exchange network comprising a plurality ofdevices; display or broadcast one or more of the total number ofindividual first-tier responses on at least one of the plurality ofdevices in the communications exchange network in accordance with itspredetermined group if any; and one or more of receive from or transmitto, one or more other of the plurality of devices in the exchangenetwork, collaborative individual participant commentary data orrevision data through the digital communications exchange network tooptimize the one or more individual first-tier responses in response tothe one or more challenges, the optimized first-tier responses beingdesignated as one or more of a total number of second-tier consensusanswers to the one or more challenges, the total number of thesecond-tier consensus answers being less than the total number of theindividual first-tier responses.
 23. A system according to any of claims1-22, wherein at least one of the plurality of devices is configured todiscontinue communication of data to or from a group, class or schoolwhen a device set group requests via input data into one or more of theplurality of devices that a device set be removed from the group, classor school, optionally by all group device sets, or a super majority ormajority of device sets transmit vote data to exclude the device set.24. A system according to any of claims 1-23, wherein at least one ofthe plurality of devices is configured to discontinue communication ofdata to or from a group, class or school when a device set grouprequests via input data into one or more of the plurality of devicesthat a device set be removed from the group, class or school, optionallyby all group device sets, or a super majority of device sets transmitvote data to exclude the device set.
 25. A system according to any ofclaims 1-24, wherein a device set group answer data ascends the digitalcommunication device hierarchy structure based on being displayed onconcentrically greater numbers of device sets.
 26. A system according toany of claims 1-25, comprising: providing text or audio chat after achallenge has gone through a collaborative and competitive process ontwo occasions within the groups, and for the first time all groupspresent at least one set of consensus data from other groups availablefor viewing by virtue of broadcast sharing.
 27. A system according toany of claims 1-26, wherein device set membership in a first-tier groupis based on each device set in a first-tier group having at least onecharacteristic common to other device sets in the first-tier group set,the at least one character being based on a user data profile associatedwith each device set.
 28. A system according to any of claims 1-27,wherein at least one of the plurality of devices is configured todisplay side-by-side answer data spaces, at least one space for eachdevice set, each answer data space configured sequentially to containanswer data and then collaboration answer data from one correspondingassigned device set, the answer data displayed from one time to anothertime changing based on updates derived from revisions to that deviceset's answer from that device set.
 29. A system according to any ofclaims 1-28, wherein at least one of the plurality of devices isconfigured to display at least one distinct and separate dialog datainput field for displaying and receiving dialog comprising one or moreof comment, question, clarification, suggestion, and explanation toimprove answer and collaborative answer data in at least one answer dataspace, each of the at least one answer data spaces being assigned todisplay data from one device set in a session, the dialog data inputfield being adjacent to, and separate and distinct from, the at leastone answer data input field.
 30. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium containing a program, which when executed by one or morecomputers each and/or collectively containing one or more processors,causes the one or more processors to cause at least one device set of aplurality of device sets in a communications network to: electronicallytransmit responsive data from the at least one device set, each of theat least one device sets configured to be organized into a predeterminedgroup within an answer driven yet-to-be determined digital communicationdevice hierarchy structure and to represent one or more individualparticipants, the responsive data responsive to one or more challengesposed by one or more entities with digital access to the yet-to-bedetermined digital communication device hierarchy structure, theresponsive data being designated as one or more of a total number ofindividual first-tier responses for each predetermined groupcommunicated in a partially centralized, centralized or decentralized,digital communications exchange network comprising a plurality ofdevices; display or broadcast one or more of the total number ofindividual first-tier responses on at least one of the plurality ofdevices in the communications exchange network in accordance with itspredetermined group if any; and one or more of receive from or transmitto, one or more other of the plurality of devices in the exchangenetwork, collaborative individual participant commentary data orrevision data through the digital communications exchange network tooptimize the one or more individual first-tier responses in response tothe one or more challenges, the optimized first-tier responses beingdesignated as one or more of a total number of second-tier consensusanswers to the one or more challenges, the total number of thesecond-tier consensus answers being less than the total number of theindividual first-tier responses.